


Path To Triple Threat

by fob_Benzedrine23, ZoeyAndGuys



Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Also Some Small Bits Of Henry x Ellie, Alternate Universe, And right now it's a one sided crush, Blood, Body Horror, Cancer, Cancer get go die can I get an amen on that, Characters Will Be Added As Story Is Updated, Flashbacks, Gen, Henry Stickmin Series: Breaking The Bank, Henry Stickmin Series: Completing the Mission, Henry Stickmin Series: Escaping the Prison, Henry Stickmin Series: Fleeing the Complex, Henry Stickmin Series: Infiltrating the Airship, Henry Stickmin Series: Stealing the Diamond, Henry finally gets a freind, Henry has his friends, Homeless Henry For Like A Few Seconds, I don't really know what else to tag that I haven't tag already, I mean look at all these tags, I might be breaking laws of Physics but ehh This is the Henry Stickmin world, I think that's all the tags, Kinda, Let me know if I forgot to tag something, Maybe? he melted but he recovers from it and doesn't seems messed up by it, Mentions of Cancer, Mentions of past (not self caused) cuts and bruises and other kinds of abuse, Minor Character Death, My Henry Is A Bean, Not putting it in relationships because it's not too important to the overall plot, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Poor Henry, Possible Character Death, Still putting warnings on just to be safe, Things May Change Depending On How The Story Goes, Triple Threat Ending | TT (Henry Stickmin), Warnings May Change, We finally got to the TT Tag yay!, feels warning, idk character gets happy quickly now but still, if you read epilogue be prepare to cry, it's finally complete!, last tag of story go brrr, not too much tho, ok that's enough tags until epilogue, past trauma, possible deperssion, slight fighting, some detailed violence, some violence, video game references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28615647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fob_Benzedrine23/pseuds/fob_Benzedrine23, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeyAndGuys/pseuds/ZoeyAndGuys
Summary: Written By ZoeyAndGuys, Edited By fob_Benzedrine23Henry Stickmin never really had a life before. All of his days were spent in one place, looking for something more. Now suddenly, he's out in the world. He can have a life, any life he chose. He didn't have to be lonely anymore. He just had to be careful, and make the right choices. And get some cash real quick. There's a bank down the road. He could get some there. but he had no account. Yes he knew stealing was wrong, but just this once to help him get him settle into his life. What could possibly go wrong?AkaA more in detail look in the Triple Threat timeline that takes place in my AU. Well, may Au mostly follows the canon, just with Henry having a unquie backstory. I doubt it's what actually happen in Henry's past in canon so that's why it's an AU.
Comments: 25
Kudos: 43





	1. Prologue : Breaking The Bank

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! And thanks for checking out the story. As mention in the summery, this will mostly follow the canon story in the game, just with my strange version Of Henry's backstory that is 0.001% percent likely to be canon and a few slight changes. However, there is one other change to the timeline I'm going to be making. I'll be putting it at the end so you can move onto the story.

It would be hard to believe that within running distance of a city, was a place that could easily be called the middle of nowhere. Desert as far as the eye could see. The only exception being a large, gray building out in the middle of all this nowhere, with the word " **BANK** " written in what appeared to be pure gold. Two men stood outside of it, both wearing a dusty, dark blue guard hat and uniform, which would have made more sense to be lighter, seeing as they were in the middle of a desert, but neither seemed to be complaining. At least they had cool sunglasses to block the sun from their eyes.

There was another man who didn't belong there. One look at him as he glanced at the building's side wall was enough to tell something was different about him. His skin was pale, but to be fair that wasn't a too uncommon trait, especially around here. He had green eyes, which clashed with his dull, pink hair. Yes dull pink. He was wearing a slightly dull shaded, dark and light blue jacket, and a even darker shade of blue for pants. His shoes? Just pure brown ones.

With a dull, creamy/grayish color bag over his shoulder, a strange, box shaped device in hand, and the faintest hints of dry tear marks on his face. Meet Henry Stickmin. He's short on cash, so it's time to get some. He is not to be confused with Henry Stickman. If there was any person with that name. If there was, he likely didn't need to steal money to properly start off his life. Henry (Stickmin) knew it was wrong, but just one or two hundred dollars shouldn't hurt, right?

He glanced down at the strange device in hand, known as the Teleporter. Real clever name, but instantly tells you what it does. What it doesn't tell you, is that it only has a guarantee to work the 1st time, every other time it was a fifty/fifty chance of working right. Henry had watched many volunteer test subjects try to use it and most either disappear or ended up dead nearby. And he was not ending up halfway inside a wall.

He glanced down at his hand. "I just need something to break into this bank... Please" he said as he closed his eye. He tried focusing on many possible things he could use, he just needed to get this right once... Just be perfect once.

He felt something soft appear in his hand as he looked down at it, a faint, dull yellow bag with a Money sign on it. How was that meant to help? He sighed in defeat, walking back in the direction he originally came. Maybe he could sell some of the clothing he has in his other bag for a few bucks?

He paused when he heard something coming from up ahead. He looked up, seeing a faint, blue blur. Why would it be out in the middle of nowhere? The only thing he could think of was maybe it was on it's way to the bank... He suddenly looked down at the yellow bag, an idea popping into his head. Quickly he toss the second bag behind a rock to come back to later, and put his feet in the money bag.

He looked as the blue blur, some sort of vehicle, came into view more, before quickly throwing the top over his body. "Please tie" He thought as he messed around with the top of the bag, hoping he could get the red tie in a knot. As soon as he thought it could be ok enough, he flop down on the ground. He heard a faint rush sound and faintly felt wind push against the edge of the bag, before hearing a sound he could compare to a squeak, before hearing footsteps against the ground.

"Huh? How did we lose one?" A faint voice asked, slightly muffled to Henry thanks to the bag.

"I think we should throw it in the back." A slightly older and rougher voice replied. "...Just to be safe?"

Henry had to hold his breath to keep from making noise as he felt the bag he was in beginning to drag, faintly hearing one of the voices mention the bag was heavy. He felt himself being thrown into the back, him quietly going "Ow." As his face would have landed face first into metal if it wasn't for the bag being in-between. He heard footsteps come near him before hearing a faint roar like sound, and faintly felt the...trunk he believed? Felt whatever he was in, begin to move.

Outside the bank, the guard on the left glanced over at his partner. "You ever...," He asked "...wonder why there's a bank out here?"

"Well..." His partner replied. "It's suppose to be more of a vault, you know?"

"Ohhh that makes sense!" The guard said, before focusing his attention forward again.

The gate to the vault opened as the blue trunk went in. The man in the back threw a few bags of cash he has in the back in, including the bag the held the soon-to-be thief. The truck pulled away and the gate closed. Henry pushed himself out of the bag, taking a quick glance around. He couldn't help but smile. He did it! He was in. "YES!" He shouted as he hopped up and shot a fist into the air...

Only for it to hit some sort of red light, beam...thing, causing some sort of alarm to go off. Henry only had a second to look confused before the gate opened up, the guards aiming there guns at him. "Freeze! Don't move!" One shouted as he raised his hands in the air, sighing. 

One day out and already he was having bad luck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you like it! For anyone who wondering why I don't have the chapters set to six, it's because I might do a few flashback chapters in-between the main story and a small Epilogue chapter at the end. If you wish to keep reading this story, let me know if you would like to see that or not! I can't promise a set time for chapter publishing, because this is just a small project I like to do in my free time, but know even if it takes awhile this is one story I'm not gonna let go unfinished!
> 
> Now let's talk about the one thing that will be change, or well, two I guess. TL:DR at the end.
> 
> Henry's age and the timeline. As some of you may know, in the trailer flash version FtC, Henry was stated as being 28 years old. We know that BtB/EtP took place in 2008, ItA in 2013, and FtC most likely took place in 2015. We also know at the earliest CtM takes place is 2018, making Henry 21 the earliest in the timeline and at least 31 the latest in the timeline.
> 
> But according to one of the "secrets" endings in CtM, EtP was about 1 YEAR Ago. I don't fully understand why PuffballsUnited overlooked this detail when redrawing the stuff for the past game, or he forgot about his own timeline and just put 1 year ago to make things simple. No hate to him, he's great and I'm looking forward to any new projects he may have. But it sure throws a monkey wrench into things for us fans. So here's what I'm doing.
> 
> I'll be using the 1 year (but this story will likely be about just under a year in time, since I headcanon most of the Presumed Dead endings took place a bit later in the timeline then others.) time because it's the most updated version of the timeline we have, and will just make things easier.
> 
> TL:DR : While not as confusing as the Fnaf timeline overall, the years make little sense in Henry Stickmin unless everyone is using old tech and/or likes to set dates back a bit for the giggles. This story will be following the time course of about just a bit under a year as that's the easiest way for me to do anything with this game's timeline.
> 
> Oh for anyone who's curious. By the end of the story (or the CtM chapter If I deiced to do an epilogue.) Henry will be 21, Charles will be 22, and Ellie will be 20
> 
> Edit : I was made aware that Puffballs forgot to change the pardon date and plans on updating it. I likely would have done the same in his shoes to be honest. I'll still be following my plan of about a year for the story, but it's nice to know he's planning on fixing a few things to make everything flow a bit smother. Also I started writing the EtP chapter so I can't wait for you guys to see that!


	2. Episode 1 : Escaping The Prison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second/first part of Henry's story! I hope you Enjoy!

It had been 33 days since he tried to rob the bank. He knew thanks to the black lines he drew with chalk on the wall above his bed. 33 days. Over a month of his new life being locked in a cage. He was hoping his father wasn't looking down at him in disappointment. If he was looking down at him at all. Henry sighed as he looked down from his stone cold bed, at least his old one was an actual one.

He had complied with the police as they took him to the prison, only starting to resist when he realized that "Prison" was the same thing as "Jail". But by then they had already thrown him into his cell and locked the door. He was only allowed out during certain parts of the day, mainly while doing his chores prisoners are required to do and to shower. He didn't like the feeling of the orange suit he was required to wear, but he shouldn't really be complaining. At least he was allowed to wear his Jacket and other clothes he came in with, every other time after a shower, so at least he wasn't fully uncomfortable.

He hadn't thought about using his powers to try and escape, he knew that would likely get him into trouble, or get him sent back to the... He shook his head as he rubbed the back of his left shoulder, where the mark of his past was. He promised he would never go back. It's the last thing he asked of him. They would have to kill him before they took him back there. He wasn't going to be the one Jerald would shout at for not being able to control his 'gift'...

Besides, prison wasn't too bad. Sure, he would rather be out and actually living his life, but even if they were mean, at least the cops here treated him like a fellow human and not like something that was 'hardly more then a machine'. They brought him food and would at least pretend to listen when he was rambling to himself, trying to make time fly. He would take that over how he was treated before any day.

He did wish that at least one of them would become his friend. Ever since he was, at most, 8, that had been the main thing he wanted in the world. Someone to play with back then, but now he would even do dull things with someone if they would be his friend. The only person who might take up his offer was "Knifeman", the murderer in the cell next to his. And he didn't like the idea of becoming BFFs with a killer. He wasn't that desperate after leaving the l-

"Oi, you!" A voice called, taking Henry out of his thoughts, Henry looking up to see Rupert, one of the guards who worked on this floor. He seemed nice, but also was a bit jerky at times. Henry didn't recognize the man beside Rupert, meaning this was his first time on the floor or he was new. "You're free to go!"

Henry gasped slightly. "Really?!" He asked, smiling. Finally he could actually live his life. He frowned, though, when laughter was the first response from the black-haired guard.

"Not really." He said, his voice and face quickly returning to it's normal semi-serious tone Henry was used to, opening the mini-door on the cell door. "But you've got a package." he said, pushing the box into the cell, not really caring about the red "FRAGLE" label printed on the side. But to be fair, judging by the fact they didn't hear anything break, it was fine.

"I... got a package?" Henry asked, sitting up from the stone-cold bed as he walked up to it. He didn't understand. The only people who knew he existed wouldn't have sent a package and there wasn't any name besides his own on the package, so no clue there. He scratched his head slightly. "Who on earth would send me, of all people, a package... Do you know what's inside?"

The other guard shrugged slightly as Rupert looked at him. "Don't get your hopes up!" He said, waving his hand to the side slightly. "We've already checked it for anything useful. Haven't we Dave?"

"What?" The new guard, Dave asked, taking a moment to process what he said. "Yeah, yeah! Of course I checked it!" he said, beginning to rub the back of his head. "I mean if I didn't check it, I would lose my job, and I don't wanna lose my job!" he said, letting out a nervous laugh.

Rupert rolled his eyes with a chuckle, taking it as a joke. "See ya 'round." He said, before he and Dave began to leave with a chuckle. "Free to go. I thought that was pretty good, didn't you?"

Henry looked down at the package, picking it up by the side and lifting it. A cake appeared from its hiding spot, making Henry gasp and throw the box behind him. "A cake! I hope the frosting is strawberry flavor and not just dyed!" He claimed reaching for a piece. However, the top of it open like a machine, and Henry discovered is was a machine disguised as a cake. He was a bit disappointed at first, but it could have been worse. 

It could have been a Cheesecake with Frosting, which no matter how good each were apart, was an abomination. He recalled his father tried it once for him and almost instantly gagged. One of the many scarifies he made for him... Henry shook those thoughts out of his mind and decided to peak inside the "cake", wondering if anything was inside.

The first thing he saw was the Teleporter, which he quickly garbed in joy. It had the blue tape piece he put on the back, so it was his. He had recalled himself nearly in tears when they took it away when he first arrived. It was part of his father's last gift to him and he could never let anything happen to it, even if he never planned on using it. He placed the device in his pocket, nice and safe, before taking another peak inside to see if anything else was there.

The only other thing inside was a gray piece of metal. It took about a minute or two of thought, but what it was finally clicked in his mind. A File! If he recalled what he was told, it could be used to cut through the bars. This was his ticket to freedom!

He walked over to the cell door, and placed the file against it. He took a breath before beginning to rub in across, hoping to cut the bars. It was going a lot quicker then he imagined it would, only taking about five minuets on each end of the bar to get it cut all the way though. Yeah, his wrist hurt now, but he was one step closer to freedom. He stepped out of the cage with the metal bar in hand, taking a look around.

Almost instantly, he saw Rupert racing up to him, and Henry panicked, quickly swinging the bar to defend himself. He heard Rupert grunt as he fell, and looked down while moving the bar behind him. He heard another thud and a slight buzz sound, looking behind him to save Dave knocked out, the strange battery powered device the cops always carry with them to his side. He dropped the bar and backed up. "Sorry!" he said, he didn't mean to hurt then.

Suddenly, he heard a faint ding sound and looked to the side. The strange moving room thing, an "Elevator" if he recalled the name right, opened and revealed two cops, who looked like they were having a conversation. "Hey, he's escaping!" One called as they looked over, seeing the escaped prisoner. 

"No I'm not!" Henry said, clearly lying, before racing into a room nearby, locking the door as soon as he was in. He backed up from the door and looked around, seeing it was just an almost completely empty room. He felt panic rise inside of him, with it increasing far more when he heard the banging against the door. He practically locked himself into another cell!

Scanning the room again, he noticed a chair nearby and a vent above him. It being his only tool inside the room, besides the belt with round green things, and him not wanting to risk using his powers, he grabbed the chair and moved it under the vent. He climbed onto the chair, silently praying it didn't break, which considering the crack he saw on it and knowing him being around six feet tall, didn't make him the lightest person. 

He stepped onto the chair and punched at the air vent slightly, hissing a bit as the pain filled his hand. He kept punching, however, until he managed to get the vent loose. Must have been an older one or not screwed in fully, but he didn't mind. He lifted himself up into the vent, huffing slightly as he managed to get himself fully inside. "Going forward will just lead me further into the building, and knowing my luck I'll land in another cell." He said to himself.

Being careful, he turned around and past back over the hole of where the vent once was, not wanting to fall and break his neck. He keep going until he found himself at, seemingly, a dead end. He looked up, noticing there seemed to be some space there. Not wanting to go back, nor wanting to wait until he was found or dead, whichever would come first, he kicked at the metal vent with his feet, his hands still not quite forgiving him for earlier. He keep kicking until he was nearly blinded by sunlight when he kicked the metal part off.

He climbed out of the now-rounded vent thing and took a moment to take in the fresh air, it was almost like the first time he breathed it in a little over a month ago. He quickly noted the buildings edge nearby, and took a slight peak down. One small glance made him feel queasy. How on earth was he going to get down? He came this far, he wasn't giving up now! He looked back to where he came, seeing a large brown box, walking over and taking a peek inside. 

The first thing he saw was someone's lost wallet, which he quickly placed in his pocket. He still needed the money after all.

After that he looked at watch else was in the box. He saw something that looked like the guards guns from earlier, but with a sharp point at the end, so that was useless. He saw a strange rocket like device, but he was trying to get down, not up. He didn't see how a bag would be helpful, although he did take the pop from inside as well as an extra five bucks hidden in the pocket. The only remaining thing was two plungers. "Better then nothing." He said, grabbing them.

He walked over to the edge, placing one against his head and felt it suck to him. He wined slightly from pain as he forced it off his skin, but smiled with the confirmation this could work. He placed one of the plungers against the wall and let himself down all while holding onto it. From there he slowly yet carefully made his way down the at least 10 stories tall building, only letting go once he was close enough to the ground.

He looked at the building one last time, before smiling and running away from it. He now knew there was a small city nearby, and he just needed to run there. It would take over a month later then he originally planned, but his life was finally gonna begin. No more being locked up with the world just outside of his grasp! 

And hopefully this would be the last time he stole or broke any laws.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! As you very likely noticed, I did do something different and have him interact with things that would be fails, but they don't end up killing him because he doesn't use them like in the game. Not sure if I will keep doing this in other chapters but I thought it would be cool! Plus I needed a way to give him a few bucks. Also, as you may have also guessed, this Henry isn't aware of different timelines, nor has the ability to make them. If he did a fail and died, he's just dead. Just felt like saying that. Anyway, see you whenever next chapter comes out!


	3. Episode 2 : Stealing The Diamond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is finally hear! Sorry this took a bit to get out. I normally tried to work on this story 4-5 days outta the week, but I found myself being lazy and not doing that. I should say I will try to make the next chapter come out quicker, but A. I be lying to myself, and B. I know for almost a fact that the next few chapters will take awhile to write. So yeah, sorry if that bugs ya. But anyway, onto the last secret part of this story. The StD route I choice for my Henry may be surprising considering last chapter.

"Test Subject" was the only words he stared at on the paper labeled "Job Ideas". It made sense as that was the only thing that was clear to read anymore, besides the stress drawing of a stick-figure firing some sort of gun. He was thinking hard about it. Most labs or other places where a test subject would be needed would turn him away or call the cops. The only place that wouldn't...

After he got to the city, he was mesmerized by all the sights, sounds, and smells. He could see buildings even taller then he could ever imagine, and trees and grass. He could hear people talking, vehicles driving, and how alive it made everything. He could smell food from bakery's, flowers from shops, and smoke from some vehicles. Looking back, people were probably confused as to why a grown man was acting like a child in a theme park. But that was what he was back then, in reality.

Of course, those good memories didn't last too long. Soon, night had fallen and the fact he now had no home to get to had dawned on him. He did manage to find an older house to stay the night, but it almost made him miss the prison bed; At least that had a pillow. He had zero idea how to get a proper home and didn't have any idea how to get one with only $105 in cash, a pop, and the clothes on his back to his name. 

Luckily, while chilling outside a gas station, pondering what he needed to do, he had come across a man. He had bumped into him by mistake, and he guessed the dirt in his hair and jacket were enough to give away the fact he was homeless. The man had offered Henry a small house he been having trouble selling.

Henry had quickly agreed to the deal, which was he would get the house and all the furniture currently inside, as long as he got a job and payed the rent. Henry thought it wouldn't be too hard to get a job. He had forgotten the fact he was known as an escaped criminal, and anyplace he applied to online, which took nearly a full day to figure out the internet itself, would reject him, and the likely reason he wasn't back in jail was because he used the Library's computers.

And now he was ten days behind on his rent. He only had a few dollars he had when it came, and Henry was honestly surprised he hasn't been kicked out yet. He placed the note paper to the side and turned on the TV. Was two months going to be all he ever saw of the outside world before he would have to break his promise?

"As the mayor..." Henry looked up to see the city's mayor in a room full of different items, but what his eyes landed on something right behind the mayor. That being a large blue diamond that was about half his body in size. "I hereby declare... the Tunisian Archaeological Exhibit... Open!" As he said that last part, a message appeared at the bottom of the screen, stating it was worth $112 million dollars.

Despite the voice in the back of his head telling him it was a bad idea, Henry could have sworn dollar sighs appeared in his eyes. He could pay back the guy instantly, not to mention get everything he needed to live a great life! He reached over for the keys to his scooter he had summoned about two weeks ago, before racing outside with a grin. Just one more crime shouldn't hurt him, especially since he was in such a tight spot!

By the time he had gotten there, it was night time. Which was probably best, should mean less trouble. That's what he thought, until he saw the guards standing at the entrance. Looks like he would need to find some other way in. He parked his Scooter, looking down at it for a second. "Why didn't I just sell this, could go for about 100 bucks." Henry said, before shrugging as he headed into the bushes. "Ehh, I'm already committed to my choice."

He soon found himself at the outer wall, looking up slightly. His first idea on how to get in made him smack himself immediately. He was not using that teleporter! He didn't have time to end up in water, space, inside a giant animals' mouth, the ground, or anywhere it might send him. Yeah, it might work, but the risk of it could cost him his life! He sighed, and focus on his hand, trying to summon something. "I need to get past this wall, and quickly."

He felt something wooden appear in his hand. He looked, surprised to find he had given himself a pickaxe. His powers never gave him exactly what he wanted! There was always some sort of twist to it! He smiled slightly, before starting to use the pick on the wall. Of course, this was gonna take awhile, but if he got the diamond in the end, he could live with that- what was that hissing sound. He only had a second to turn around and shout as a green creature raced up to him.

The next thing he knew, he was groaning as he found himself in a blocky hole. One thing he had became interested with quickly was video games, likely spending hours on the library computer in-between job-applications just watching different gameplay videos. Was that a creeper from Minecraft!? How did it even-!? He sighed and simply began to climb up, at least he was alive and now had a way inside the museum.

Just a scan around the room made him feel... sick. He wasn't sure why, it was just a bunch of green and brown weapons. Maybe it had something with that picture on the wall? 

Before he had much more time to think about it, he ducked slightly as he heard the two guards in the room talking. How they didn't hear the explosion or see the hole in the wall it caused, he had no idea.

"Yeah so apparently... There was something in that cake." One of the guards, who Henry surprisingly recalled was Dave from the prison. What was he doing here and why was he talking about his cake? "And uh, he used it to escape and I got fired." Oh, Henry hadn't meant to get him fired, he just needed to get out, it wasn't his fault it wasn't a real cake! "Pretty lame, huh? Yeah I don't really like this- huh?" He stop when his fellow guard sighed.

"Please, shut up." The other guard said, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, sorry." Henry decided it was probably best to just block out Dave for right now.

He saw the small green plane model in front of him, and felt an idea pop into his mind. He quickly lifted it up and threw it with all his might. That sent it flying quickly across the room, smacking into the annoyed guard and knocking him out quickly. Dave quickly ran away, looking behind him at the familiar looking man. "I gotta warn some-" he said, before running straight into a pole and knocking himself out. 

Henry had cringed slightly at the sound and sight. "I hope that heals, don't want to hurt him more then I already have..." He whispered as he peaked around the pole. He saw a guard seemingly asleep against the door to the diamond room, only to awaken a few seconds later, only to fall back asleep. Looking ahead, Henry saw a sign for a room called the "Retro Room", and raced in as soon as the guard fell asleep.

Once inside, he saw a door with a picture of his prize on it, along with the words "TUNISM". He peaked the door open slightly, hearing heavenly music in his mind as he saw his object of desire. As he pulled the door open to step inside, he quickly shut it at the sight of at least two armed guards. As he tried to think of what to do, his stomach grumbled slightly. "Should've gotten something while still at the house." He said, glancing around.

To his surprise, there was a mushroom nearby. While he had never had one before, wasn't sure he would like it, and knowing he should probably not eat museum items the same time he was stealing a diamond, he didn't think to well on a hungry stomach. He reached over to touch the orange and yellow fungal growth, only to see it disappear upon touching it. The next thing he knew, his head was nearly hitting the celling, having grown to a massive amounts.

"Wait, so I was locked up cuz of my powers all my life, yet these things are just allowed in museums were people can touch them!?" Henry shouted to himself for a moment, before covering his mouth as he remember the guards who likely heard him. However, upon a second look at his hands, he couldn't help but feel a smirk appear on his face. Why worry about the guards when he was a giant?

He put his hands through the door, breaking the wall until he could step thought with a smug grin on his face. The guards quickly noticed and tried to shoot him down, but the bullets were little more then pebbles that bounced off his skin. While he himself didn't notice, the shaking of his footsteps were so extreme that it even caused a dinosaur egg to hatch, quickly flying off, snatching a guard in it's mouth in the way.

Henry slammed his hand onto the glass container the diamond was in, breaking it effortlessly. He picked up the diamond with a big smile. Before he had time to celebrate however, a canon ball that one of the guards fire from a canon hit his chest, causing him to shrink back down. 

Henry groaned as he he tried to recover from the force of the hit. Luckily only his stomach seem to be hurt, which the pain was loosen slightly when he pushed the canon ball away. He got onto his feet, scanning the room, trying to find the diamond, but saw nothing by guards. "There's no way this can get any worse... right?" Henry asked.

Meanwhile, in the southwest somewhere, there was a large gray building, the Center for Chaos Controlment. Inside were people scanning different areas of the world, with their main goal being to try and prevent any chaos from happening. They knew more about their world and timeline then anyone else can ever hope to began. A man with gray glasses and a blue hat with the logo looked at his radar, seeing a single green dot appearing.

"Uh, sir? You Might Wanna look at this." He called for the sight director, who came over calmly, simply glancing at him. "I'm getting chaos readings at 10.6, it's coming from the museum."

"My god." His gruff voice replied, removing his shades to get a better look. "It's over NINE!" He said, gripping his shades slightly, a cigarette somehow failing to fall from his mouth.

"Yeah." The worker replied after a moment of awkward silence.

"I'm leavin' this decision up to you, Corporal." he replied, having faith in him, pointing at his control panel. "Just hit one of those buttons to deal with this pressing situation." His thoughts were interrupted by typical TV laughter in the background, quickly putting his shades back on and heading in that direction. "Who's watching TV!? Get back to work!"

"Whoa, sorry Chief! I'll get back to work." The worker heard his co-worker reply as he looked at his options. The first button was a division sign, along with zero, how would math help in this situation? The next button had a symbol of a nuke, which would just do more harm then good. The one under that was a satellite, but they already had the data needed. That left him to press the only other option, a gear.

Almost instantly, something large and gray crashed through the Museum's roof. A large robot with the CCC's logo on it's chest raised up from the roof, and began to smack and shoot everything around it's feet, one of which crushed some poor guy. "Y-You have to jinx yourself, don't ya?" Henry stuttered to himself as he took a step back in shock and fear, as he finally spotted his prize as the guards ran away. It was behind the robot however, and the exit was within his reach.

"Dad wouldn't want me to die trying to rob a gem" was the main thing keeping Henry running from the museum, other then the fear he felt. He wanted to go back so badly, to get the one thing that would finally turn his life around! But he couldn't... not if he wanted to make it out alive. He could still hear it by the time he stop where he hid his scooter, taking a few sharp breaths. What was the plan now? Go back to the pain he felt for years, or hope the landlord would let him stay without pay?

Suddenly, there was a crash nearby, making Henry look over. To his shock, the soul blue gem he wanted so badly had landed from on the ground next to him, as if it was faint! It must have been kicked or shot away but the giant robot! A few pieces of it had broken off near the bottom, but he wasn't planning on selling it in one big go anyway, that would be far too dumb! He would get arrested again too quickly. He couldn't help but stand with one foot on the Diamond proudly, feeling as if he was on cloud nine.

Finally, he could live a normal life without a care. After all, as long as he keep this a secret, and avoid the cops, who would bug him. 

It wasn't like he was gonna be useful to anyone ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And yes, Henry went from as quite as possible breaking out of the prison, to causing the CCC to get involved when stealing the diamond. Part of the reason I choice this ending is because of the fact it's the most likely ending where the diamond is broken at the end, which if my plans go through, will play a small part in the ItA chapter. I'm so ready to write Charles, he's my favorite character! Anyway, I hope you all have a nice day, and I'll see you whenever I finish and post the next chapter! Edit: I had just noticed for some reason the part where Henry threw the plane got cut out or something, fixed it now.


	4. Episode 3 : Infiltrating The Airship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHARLES TIME CHARLES TIME CHARLES TIME- I mean, welcome to Chapter 4 of Path to Triple Threat! This one took awhile to write, as there was a lot of dialogue and a lot of little details I wanted to included. I also had to make sure what I wrote off the top of my head matched what I had written earlier so the story wasn't confusing. I also been trying to find some grammar additions for my browser so fob_Benzedrine23 doesn't have to do as much editing to fix my poor grammar. Anyway, onto ItA with my favorite character!

Henry was unaware of his current sleeping position against the box, drooling slightly as his cheeks were getting sore. He had just been chilling in his house prior; watching some more gameplay videos with the laptop he had gotten with his own money. By that, he meant the money he'd gotten from selling pieces of the diamond. A shake of the vehicle he was in woke him up and time seemed to slow as he looked forward.

There were two men in front of him. One he recognized as Rupert from the jail, who now wore a green cap instead of his normal blue, and wearing an outfit with all different splotches of green. He had a gun in his hands and Henry assumed that he wanted to shoot him with it, by the glare. The other man wore a hat and clothing similar to Rupert, but he was much older. Henry noticed he felt a bit... lighter. What kind of vehicle was he inside?

Within the month after he stole the diamond, he slowly sold off the small pieces that broke off, leaving most of it for himself, in case of an emergency. He had instantly paid the landlord off, and gotten the house fixed up to his liking. He was also finally able to get the best flowers at the shop for his father's grave...

He also got a few things for himself as well. The previously mentioned laptop being one of the main examples. He also got himself a few gaming devices for him to mess around with. He sucked at most of the games he tried, but he had fun at least. He also got books and DVDs to help him get caught up on the history of the world, and more importantly, how to live independently as an adult.

He couldn't help but feel like something was missing however. When he would walk on the streets, he would see people with each other, seemingly just happy to be around the other. He knew he couldn't dare try to make friends, as they would likely report him to the police. So he was alone. It was, oddly enough, the one thing that made him still feel trapped. Like his heart was the only thing of himself worth any value-

"Well well..." Time suddenly resumed to Henry as the older man spoke. "Look who finally decided to wake up." He said, making Henry focus his attention on him.

"I'm assuming you mean me.." Henry said as he glanced around, both for other people, and to get an idea of where he was. "Please explain why on earth I'm here?"

The gray breaded man glared slightly at the statement, but still held some respect in his voice. "You've been quite elusive, but your skills make you worth the catch. You'll be perfect for the job." He then handed him a picture with some people, the one catching Henry's eyes as the 'Leader' in he middle with a gold chain around his neck. "We've been havin' some issues with a group of thieves known as the Toppat Clan."

"Alright... but uhh, what does this have to do with me?" He asked. And what skills were they talking about?

"Well, we know they're guilty, we just can't pin them to any crimes." The man replied, like that made any sense. "You'll be goin' into their airship to bring them down." 

Before Henry had a chance to disagree, Rupert pulled out a flip pad thingy.

"I don't need to remind you we got you on several charges. Attempted Robbery," A paper was flipped. "Breaking yourself out of prison," another paper was flipped. The older man chuckled. "And even stealing the Tunisian Diamond." Henry felt his heart sink as he realized how dead he was. "We've got quite a lot of counts on you. Do this job right, and we'll drop all charges against you."

"All charges... All Crimes.. Dropped just like that?" Henry asked. When he got a nod from the man in front of him, he couldn't help but smile as he stood up. "Why didn't you tell me that before!? I'm in!... Mister..."

"Galeforce, Captain Galeforce." He said as he brought Henry over to the Helicopter's cockpit. In there was a man that looked to be slightly older then Henry, he had black hair and blue eyes, with skin that had a bit more pigment then Henry's. Henry couldn't help but feel something at the sight of the red-headphone wearing man, like this was faint. "Charlie here will be bringing you close to the airship, and the rest is up too you."

Henry walked up to him slightly, almost like a shy child at school. Which was funny because he was never really a shy child, or ever went to school. "Uhh... Hi Charlie." He said, a bit awkwardly.

The pilot looked over, before smiling what felt like the truest smile Henry ever saw. "Oh, Hey! My name is really Charles, the Captain just likes to call me Charlie."

"Oh, alright then, Charles." He sounded so friendly, so warm... the aura around him was friendly and warm too. Like he was worth more then the diamond, like he could be a... friend? Henry reached out his arm to him. "I'm Henry! But...uhh..." He drew the hand away. "You already knew that, didn't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Charles confirmed, nodding his head in a way that just felt so pure. "The Captain informed me about you when we came to, uhh... 'pick you up', and why he wanted to bring you here."

"Yeah... I'm not sure what on earth he means by 'skills', though." Henry said, glancing at his hands slightly. "I'm just a guy who was born with a weird hair color."

Charles chuckled a bit at his statement. "Well, dull pink isn't really a.. uhh.. common color." he said, trying to be as polite as he could. "And what do you mean you don't have skills? You managed to sneak into a bank, break out of prison, and steal an over 100 Mil Diamond."

"Well... I- WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT GAINT SOLID RED LOOKING CLOUD THING!?" Henry was suddenly behind Charles as he pointed to the strange red mass in the sky, causing Rupert and Galeforce to race in. "Why are you flying right next to it Charles!? We need to get away from it n-"

"That's the bloody airship!" Rupert cut him off, facepalming slightly. "Haven't you seen one before?!"

"...No?" Henry said meekly, and he could see the rage appearing in Rupert's vison. 

"This, this is the guy we're counting on to take out the Toppats?!" Rupert said to the Captain, clearly annoyed.

"I trust he can do it, Rupert." Captain Galeforce said, ignoring the huff Rupert given him in response. He jester Henry over to the nearby door, opening it. Henry held onto the side as he felt the wind from outside, suddenly afraid of falling out. He felt a pat on the back slightly. "Find a way to bring 'em down, and you'll be a free man." He said, before walking away.

"Hey, uh, how do you want me to bring you in?" Charles called, giving Henry an excuse to look away from the airship. "We got a grappling gun and a cannon ball we can use. Also a sticky hand, for uh, some reason."

"I'd... rather not fall off." Henry stated, as he looked up at the airship that he was still wondering how it could even be in the air. "I think I see an opening near the top, think you can fly me over? Also, do you have anything I can use to talk with you during this?" This could be the opportunity Henry had to get a pal, and he was not wasting it.

"Yeah, sure, I can do that. And here, place this in your ear and pressed the button when you wanna talk with me." Charles called, tossing a small device over to Henry, who did as ask.

"Thanks!" he called, placing it in his ear, and waited until he was sure he was safe before hopping onto the airship, a foot or two from the hatch.

"Check check, this is Charles, I just thought I'd give you a heads up." Charles voice came through the strange device.

"Give me a heads up?" Henry asked, pressing the button as he tilted his head to the side. "To what, I don't see anything?"

"Well, I managed to get some access to the inside of the airship, the hacking systems programed into this helicopter are amazing." Charles chuckled. "Oh, and I see the room below you. Uhh, there's a guy down there. A bad guy. So uhh yeah, good luck!"

"Thanks Charles" Henry said, before looking down at the hatch. 'I need something to get the Toppat out quickly, and keep him from warning anyone nearby.' Henry thought, closing his eyes as he held his hand out in front of him. 

He felt some sort of plastic, and faintly heard Rupert shouting "WHAT! D-DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT!? HE MADE THAT OUT OF THIN AIR!?" in the background. He open his eyes, finding a remote in his hand and a slightly larger then normal vacuum by his feet. He noted that the nozzle opening was just as large as the hatch, and he quickly threw the hatch open and placed it over the opening, pressing the button.

He saw the bag connected to the vacuumed expand as, what appeared to be, two people were sucked into it. Henry could faintly hear one asking what was going on as he removed the nozzle, and began to head down the ladder, all the while Rupert asking if he had just seen things in the background.

"Hey good job there! Oh, Uh, so you should probably look for something incriminating." Charles said through the earpiece. "Something that we can use to prove that they're criminals, you know? I mean, that's the whole point of this operation." He added, as Henry peeked into the room nearby.

"Alright gentlemen, we been tasked with developing new weapons for the clan." A man in a top hat said, in a room with four other Toppats. "Any Ideas?"

"I was kind of thinking-" was all Henry heard before he hide behind a corner and turned on his earpiece.

"Alright, but I have to sneak past this meeting first." Henry said, trying to summon something to keep him unseen by them. "Also, what is with people here and wearing Top hats?"

He could hear Charles chuckling on the other end. "Well, its the Toppat clan for a reason."

Henry couldn't help but chuckle slightly as well, feeling a bottle of glue in his hand. "Even the glue here has Top hats" he thought, noting the symbol on the bottle. He squished a lot out and onto his hands quickly, and the sticky feeling against his skin reminded him of the plunger from a few months ago. He quickly, yet quietly, sneaked into the room, listening the the conversation slightly as he stuck on the celling in case they spotted him.

"Nah we can't do that."

"Why not man?"

"You do realize how much a solid gold cannon would weigh, right?" Henry has to resist a chuckle.

"Dude, we totally got enough power! What do you think man?"

"Well, I'm skill kind of knew here, so I'm not really sure." Why did that last voice sound familiar?

Henry soon got past the room, shaking the remaining glue off his hands, before hearing a door nearby open. In a panic, he jumped into an large exposed vent hole, as the Toppat glanced around the partly open door. "Door's jammed again!" He called to those in the meeting room. Meanwhile Henry found himself breaking through the vent and falling onto the floor. He hissed as he glanced around, seeing a large gap in front of them.

"Uhhh, Charles?" Henry said as he put his finger on his earpiece. "I had to duck to hide and now I'm in a large room with a gap, with no way across. There's a window nearby too."

"Oh yeah, that room normally has a floating pad or wooden plank to help people across, wonder why it's not there now, let me just find ya." Charles said. After a few moments Henry was able to spot the helicopter, though it was still a decent bit away to prevent the Toppats from seeing it. "Oh hey! Uh, you see that records sign? Where it says Records?"

Henry tilted his head to the side slightly as he looked at the side of the wall from the other side of the gap. He could faintly see the letters that made "RECORDS" written in a bold white font, a yellow line leading away from it and down the hall. "Yeah, I do, still surprised you can see it." He chuckled.

"Well, That's probably be a good place to look, right? Let me just, uh, help you get across that gap!" he said, then began mumbling as he seemed to look through his options. He faintly heard something about a "Greatest Plan", but he could hear others in the background dismissing the idea. After awhile he heard Charles voice again. "Alright, here is comes" he said, as an orange metal box broke through the roof.

"Huh, what's this suppose to do-" Henry asked, before it turned himself into a orange fox robot that flouted a bit above his head, him hopping so it's hands grabbed his. "Oh! It's so cute!"

"Yeah, it's design is based on a character from Sonic, though you could probably tell that." Charles chuckled as he robot flouted Henry across, heading back to the helicopter as Henry raced forward after it had let go of him.

He soon had to stop however, as there was a Toppat trying to open the door just up the steps from where he was, but keep failing. "Put it in" He could hear a voice speak over the radio system.

"I don't think that guy knows how to open the door." Charles said over the earpiece, his helicopter slightly visible outside the window. "Yeah, why don't you let me take care of this?"

"Still can't believe your basically able to see me easily from here." Henry said, making sure to be quite so the Toppat didn't hear. "If only we had a way to turn this guy into a puddle or something."

"Funny ya say that, I uh, actually have something that can do that." Before Henry could question him further, he saw the man shaking slightly, before melting into his clothing a second later. Henry slowly walked up and picked up the card, seeing the one exposed eye of the molten mess look up at him. Part of him was horrified, but it wasn't like he hadn't seen just as strange thing in his younger years. He shook that thought out of his head and step through the door.

He found himself in a library like setting. "Oh man, I remember this" A voice said, taking Henry's attention. He saw a man with a blue top hat, which the top off oddly looked like a diamond. He was looking over papers inside a folder like the one his ID, his other present along with the teleporter, was gifted in. "Good thing nobody knows about this or we'd be in a lot of tourble!" Henry, knowing cartoon logic, summon a spider on a stick and pulled the spider part in front of the man's view.

"Oh, hello Mr. Spider." Henry couldn't help but smack him after that. Luckily, it only took one hit to knock him out. As Henry garbed the folder, it hit him. Did he... summon exactly what he wanted? Or was it just luck? It had to be just luck, he never got exactly what he wanted before. The scars of proof were still there... he shook his head and look at the folder, smiling as he raced to the door.

"Alright you got some evidence! Woah, wait wait!" Charles quickly said, making Henry stop confused. "There's no way your getting through there. There's lots of guys, and there's lots of guns. That's all I'm gonna say. It looks like you could get around if you go though that air duct." 

"Well, your the boss" Henry said, chuckling slightly as he open the duct and step inside... to begin falling quickly. Luckily he was able to land on his feet easily, with only a slight sore, but then he heard a zap. He looked in front of him, seeing what appears to be bolts of lighting. "Ummm Charles, I think something's wrong. I landed in what seems to be the inside of a battery."

"That doesn't make much sense... hang on let me try too..." He could hear buttons being pressed faintly. "Alright, I hacked into there power grid, what do you want me too do?"

Henry remembered listening to two workers talk about how electricity moves once, he still doesn't understand heads or tails but the memory gave him an idea. "Can you reroute the power?"

"Ok I'll reroute the power to another room, that's fine" Charles said. Soon the electricity in front of henry disappear, him smiling as he went on.

Meanwhile in another room, a Toppat was pulling out a picture from the water, ready to place it with the others to developed. However, a light flicker, and he soon noticed a bunch of power was heading into the lights of the room. "Noooo, Nooooooo!"

Henry crawled out of the airduct, looking in front of him. "Alright Henry, your almost there. Just open the bay door and I'll, uh, get you on the copter." 

"Alright" Henry said, pressing the button nearby, causing the steal door-wall-thing to began to open. It was only then he noticed the two Toppats, and they noticed him.

"Hey, what are you doin'!?" One with a gray mustache called.

"Yeah, uhh, we got a situation is cargo bay." The other called over those small radio devices, similarly to his earpiece when he thought of it, as the helicopter came closer.

"Psst, hey! There's a button on your earpiece, you should press it." Charles whispered through said earpiece. Henry did as told, it shapeshifting into a large gun of sorts. Henry couldn't help but smirk as he quickly shot it. It sent out a large force that knocked the two Toppats out of the airship, and Henry raced to the exit, hearing a door open behind him.

"W'ot's goin-?!" Right Hand Man called as he enter the room, only to see a man with dull pink hair launch himself backwards into a military helicopter with some sort of gun, said helicopter quickly flying off. "Mmmm... t'is could be a problem." He said. He needed to talk to Reg, try and protect as many members as he could.

One Week Later...

Henry smiled as he sat down the controller and reached for the remote, changing the tv input from the game console mode to the actual TV setting, planning on looking for a move to watch. He was met with the news report of the Toppat Airship's arrest, and stop to watch it for a few moments. Turns out that little folder had enough information for the cops to arrest hundreds of members, the leaders included.

They were also able to free some prisoners the Toppats had on the airship, including Dave. Apparently the Toppats had their eyes on the diamond Henry had stolen, and took Dave poisoner as a way to try and get info on what exactly happened. He wasn't there at the time, but he heard from Charles he and Rupert had a tearful reunion, apparently they were really close. Dave was currently staying at Rupert's house, since he lost in apartment during his time he was missing.

Henry noticed that the news didn't mention that, but in reality, it was probably better that way. The last thing poor Dave needed was news reporters at Rupert's front step. At least now he could relax a bit, like Henry was after the stress of returning the diamond. Since he was know pardon by the government (said pardon being proudly displayed in his room) and wanted to turn over a new leaf, he didn't see the need to have it anymore.

He had returned it in the middle of the night, wearing gloves to prevent finger prints, not that it likely would have matter by now anyway. He left it outside with a note, explaining to whoever would find it that he wasn't in his right mind at the time, and that he needed the cash. He had promised he was turning over a new leaf, and that he would not be of issue to anyone again. He was honestly still surprised no cops went up to his door.

"I got the popcorn!" Charles voice cut his thoughts off, making Henry look over with a smile.

He had asked the pilot on the way home if he would mind 'chillin' with him. To his joy and slight surprise, he agreed. The two had become quick friends. They were actually at Charles' pretty nice house, big enough for at least three people to live there, he was honestly surprised he lived alone when he first step inside.

Turns out Charles was a big gamer, so they had spent the past few hours playing different games (henry mostly losing to Charles, or nearly causing Charles to lose along with him, or just dying and failing a lot depending on what game they played) and had agreed it would be nice to watch a movie as a break. 

"Oh! Sorry, didn't find anything, news distracted me" Henry replied, rubbing the back of his head slightly.

"Ehh, no need to worry, I got a few in a shelf nearby, we can choice from those instead!" Charles replied. "Might take a bit of digging though, mind helping out?"

"Sure" Henry said, but he knew he couldn't really be of help. Outside of the few he gotten to try and become a normal and independent human, DVDs weren't really something he paid much attention to at first, he was still wrapping his head around the concept of TV at all, believe it or not. He knew of security cams before, but that was all. "I think I saw this movie you had in the shelf called "Pokémon The Frist M-"

"Have you played Pokémon Red, Blue, FireRed, LeafGreen, Let's go Pikachu or Let's Go Eevee?" Charles quickly cut him off.

"No...?" They were games as well? "I don't see how-"

"Do you know of anything of Mewtwo from online?"

"What's a Mewt-"

"Your not watching that movie until you play through one of those games." Charles decided. "Let's head to GameStop or Walmart, they should have some." 

"But my new job doesn't start until-" 

"Completely on me, I'm not letting you make the same mistake I did." He said. "To the helicopter!" He said, as he turned off the TV and dragged Henry with him, who could only chuckled in response. The bag of popcorn was forgotten on the floor, just a mess to clean later.

He had a friend he would die for now. That's all that matters to him. 

And at least now he should never get into any trouble with anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading to the end! Sorry if the ending was a bit rush, I just wanted some friendship moments at the end and kinda rushed it all last night since I was so close to being done. The ending talk about Mewtwo was a reference to MandJTV's "Can You Beat Pokémon FireRed Using ONLY Normal Moves" Video, where he states that he wished he hadn't watch Pokémon the Frist Movie before he had played the game, since it ruin the mystery of Mewtwo for him. Since me and fob (Who came up with the headcanon of Charles being a gamer) are both Pokémon fans, I felt I needed to throw a references in there.
> 
> Also, I was originally going to ask this next chapter, but I figured asking it now would allow me to plans things out better. If your a fan of this story, tell me, would you rather CtM be the last chapter of the story, or would you like a small Epilogue chapter similar to the end of this chapter just to wrap things up, and be able to more clearly show what makes this an AU without it messing with the CtM. Please let me know! And I'll see you whenever I finished the FtC chapter!


	5. Episode 4 : Fleeing The Complex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? I actually mange to post a chapter just a little over a week since the last one? How, I was sure this was gonna take awhile. I did rush through some parts, I admit, but I was still thinking it would take a bit longer. Guess I managed to find more time to work on this. Anyway, it's time for Fleeing the Complex! I'm probably gonna put warnings on after I post this chapter since... ya know, blood and stuff. But anyway, I hope you like the chapter! And hope you don't mind some of what I written below.

A gunshot. That was all he remembered for the most part. He had just gotten off his night shift at a small coffee shop that he was still amazed he got a job at. He had said "Good night!" to the owner before hopping on his prized scooter and beginning to head home. He was planning on heading right to bed after dinner, but then a gunshot came. It didn't hurt him or his scooter since it missed, but the shock was enough to knock him off.

He didn't black out right away, but he was sure he was close to. He remembered trying to summon his phone, or any phone for that matter, to call the cops, but he felt something cover his hands, preventing him from using said phone if he did summon it. Apparently, he had actually summoned a bat or something, for they already had it on hand. Because the next thing he knew as a bag was being placed over his head, there was a faint smack to the back of his head, knocking him out.

In the past... was it one mouth or two? More? He didn't bother keeping track anymore. Anyway, in the past, however long it was, he finally seemed to get everything he wanted. A life to truly call his own, the ability to feel like he was truly human, and most importantly, Charles, his best friend. The two had become even closer since the airship raid, to the point where Henry had begun to wonder how he lived without Charles. 

The only thing he could think off that was keeping his life from truly being perfect was the money he still had from pieces of the diamond. He had looked into using it for collage, but that seemed like a hassle in of itself. He had never thought about what he truly wanted to do with his life since, up until that day at the bank, he thought it only had that one purpose he was created to fill, and he couldn't even do that simple thing.

Now, as he woke with a light flickering to life over his head tauntingly, fear filled him. Did they finally find him? Did they decide it was time to bring him back? How was it that easy? Was it always that easy? Did they just want him to suffer, let him have a taste of the life he always wanted and then bring him back, heart crushed? Was the past months of living life now meaningless? Did they force him to break his promise to his father-

"Ah. Hello, Henry." A voice ripped him out of his thoughts, a man step out of the shadows with a smirk. A man and voice he never seen nor heard before. He wasn't wearing any white coats or security outfits that had been drilled into Henry's mind. He wasn't back there, he was safe. He was still confused, but was able to release a sigh of relief before looking at the old man again. "Welcome... to the Wall."

"The Wall?" Henry asked, tilting his head to the side slightly. "I didn't think people lived inside of walls. That's kinda creepy."

The man seemed slightly taken aback by his statement. "No, not a literal wall, it's a complex, a jail." Oh, that made more sense... wait did he say jail?! "Some of the most cunning and netourious criminals are locked up here and now we have the infamous Henry Stickmin."

"Wait, what?! But I'm pardoned! It's illegal to arrest me!" Henry said, and he knew this was a true fact. He had Charles fully explain and he himself looked up how pardons worked. "I don't even have the diamond anymore anyway, I even if I did, again, PARDON! It's on my wall, you can't miss it!"

"That doesn't matter, it's only so long before you fall back to your old ways anyway." He said, making Henry's face fill up with sorrow. He never wanted to be a criminal to begin with, he just tried to get some money when he needed it most and it all just went downhill until the airship. "You're going to be here for a long time." He said with a proud and smug smirk. "Grigori, take him."

"Huh!?" Henry said as he was grabbed from behind by a man who looked like he could be the older brother of this jerk in front of them. "You'll be lucky if I don't report you to the government after this!" He shouted as he was dragged away. 

"You have connections with the US government, this is Canada!" He heard the man called.

"Canada!?" Henry shouted slightly at the realization. "I-If I don't get back soon, I'll be fried from my job!"

"Get it through your head already, your never leaving the wall." Grigori said, rolling his eyes as he forced Henry to walk into a room labeled 'Holding Cell B'. He pushed Henry against the wall by a woman who looked to be around Henry's age. He shivered slightly, even with his Jacket on, the walls of the...wall, were ice cold. "You wait here," He said, pointing at the ground to make his point. "Until cell found."

As he walked to block the only exit Henry could see, he looked at the girl starring down at the ground. He felt the same feeling when he saw Charles, though this one seemed to be more in his heart. She had dark skin and brown eyes, but red hair. Well, not full on red, but it was more of a softer shade that looked like it had been mixed slightly with a drop of pink and/or purple to create. She had a red striped hoodie of sorts, the hood being a grayish/creamy color, a pink shirt faintly visible. Her shoes where yellow, with the bottom being a cream color.

If he were to look back on this moment in a year or two from now, he would call it 'Love at first sight'. 

For him at least.

He found himself glancing up, seeing an air vent above him, along with a pipe nearby. He looked back at Grigori, who was looking into the outer hallway, before making a strange mumbling sound, causing the girl to look at him, confused. She then glanced to the air vent and nodded once realization hit, gesturing to her cuffs. He hopped on them and was launched up to the pipe, using his cuffed arms to loop around it.

"Man, she's pretty strong" Henry thought with a faint blush as he used his foot to open the vent, quickly throwing himself inside, landing on his knees with a faint hiss. He got up, noticing some sort of rock nearby, and smashed his cuff ageist it, breaking it off after two hits. He was about to race forward, but stopped himself. It would be wrong to leave her behind, so he hopped on the ladder and brought it down into the room. "Quick." He whispered while upside down, hands ready to catch her.

She quickly jumped up into his hands, and he threw her up, hearing her land on her feet in the vent. He did a double check, making sure Grigori hadn't heard them, which he seemingly hadn't, before climbing up the ladder. By then, the woman had broken off her cuffs, rubbing her wrist slightly as she looked at him with a smile. "Thanks" She said.

"It's the least I could do." Henry said, rubbing the back of his head slightly. "Oh, uhh, we should probably get out of this place as soon as humanly possible."

"Yeah, not exactly keen on staying here the rest of my days." She said, beginning to walk forward in the strangely human sized vent, Henry following behind. "I'm Ellie, by the way. Ellie Rose." Roses were his favorite flower...

"Oh, well, uh, nice to meet you Ellie. I'm Henry, Henry Stickmin!" He said, with a bit of an awkward smile on his face.

"That guy who was found in the bank and broke out of prison a little over month later?" Ellie asked, tilting her head. 

"Well...yes... Please don't judge!" Henry said, putting his hands up. "I swear I didn't mean to become a criminal, I just needed some money and it all kinda-"

"Woah, you think I have any right to judge you if I was being locked up here?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"No... I guess not... I shouldn't be here anyway, I was pardoned after taking-"

"Shhh!" Ellie said as she suddenly pulled him down. "First, that is super illegal... What is the guy running this place thinking?" she asked, Henry giving a shrug in return. "Second, I think I hear voices up there, we need to be careful." She said, pointing to the opening above them, him nodding in response.

"And I'm like 'Look how much I care, I don't care'." They heard a voice say, as they peeked out, seeing two guards with their backs turned to them, talking. "I ended up buffing up my guys and doing like 70 damage." Was what Henry heard him say as he and Ellie raced to a nearby box to hide behind in the storage room.

"Heh, That's Funny." The other guard responded, as Henry felt someone tap his shoulder, almost exactly where his mark was, making him having to hold back a hiss as he looked at Ellie.

"Let's sneak up behind them and take them down. You take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right." She said. Fair, he didn't want to deal with that pole with a sharp point that guy was holding. He nodded and they both quietly snuck up behind the two, Henry looking at Ellie for some sort of signal.

"Oh yeah, last night I kept f-" Was all the guy with the strange, spiked pole had time to say before Ellie grabbed his mouth and slammed his head against her chest, Henry quickly following with the one in the hat. It seemed to knock them both out quickly.

"You could have given me a heads up before attacking." Henry said as they raced down the long hall, Ellie giggling slightly in response to him, before stopping at a door that seemed locked. She glanced up, seeing an opening similar to the vent in the holding cell on the top of the celling. A celling that they could see the top of, only being about half the size of the room they were currently in.

"Hmm. If we could get you up there, you could get in and open the door." She stated, before backing up behind him.

"How exactly do we do that?" Henry asked, turning to her slightly. He could always try to summon a device to help them, but more likely then not his powers will give him something useless.

"Like this, hang on." She said before making a fist. As she did, Henry grasp his throat as he felt like he was being choked and felt his feet being raised and lifted from the ground. Ellie looked up as he was lifted on top of the celling before Ellie let go, Henry catching himself on the floor as he fell, as well as catching his breath. He didn't know what to do exactly, so he just smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

He managed to get down from the ceiling part, and walked over to where the glass separated them. "You have powers too!?"

"Huh, oh yeah. Had it since I could remember. I like to call it the Force based on Star Wars, but it's really just levitation." She said, speaking like it wasn't a big deal to her.

"And you can control it that easily?! It's so cool! All I can do is summon stuff." He said, summoning a Sniper Rifle in one hand and a tazer in the other. "And it isn't even under my control most of the time, it mostly just gives me random stuff that's far from what I really want."

"Maybe there's some reason-" Ellie was cut off as Henry open the door, which for some reason caused all the other cell doors too open, inmates racing past them into the room they were trying to get in. "Quick, in here!" She said, gesturing to a hallway nearby. Henry nodded, racing into the room and behind some boxes on one side, dropping the tazer. Ellie quickly picked it up, going behind some boxes on the other side of the room as two other inmates raced past, Henry doing a double take when he heard a strange language. Did that one person have four arms or was it just him?

His thoughts were cut off as three armed guards raced up, making the two hide behind their shields of cardboard more. "Hold it right there, inmates!" The closest one said. Henry aimed the gun he had summoned at them, but stopped before he could pull the trigger. These three, they most likely had families. Friends. Lives they were living happily. They weren't criminals like him, or well, he used to be. They made the right choices with their lives for the most part. Who was he to take all that away-

A painful shock went through his body, and his vision blurred as his body jerked. He could hear four blast after a movement of his fingers, and then it stopped. He needed a second before processing the three dead bodies in front of him, blood coming from where they had been shot. He drop the gun slightly, before looking at Ellie, who held the tazer. "W...Why did you make me do that?"

"It was either them or us!" She shouted, making Henry flinch for a moment at her tone. She saw his reaction and sighed, walking up to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry I made you do that, but if we want to get out, prices must be paid. And I didn't want him to shoot you." She smiled faintly. "Now, let's get back on track."

Henry slowly nodded, racing ahead with Ellie behind, trying to clear the thought that he had just committed murder from his mind.

"So. You say all inmate is out of cell?" Henry stop when he heard a voice, and peeked around a corner, seeing two guards in an elevator. 

"Hey, I just grabbed these." He heard Ellie say behind him, him glancing to see her holding two hats that nearly every guard at the wall seemed to wear. "Maybe they'll come in handy?"

Henry glanced back in the direction of the elevator. "Are we waiting for someone, or...?" One of the two guards in the elevator asked.

"I thought you pressed-" Henry decided maybe he should stop eavesdropping on random people. It just seemed weird that he kept doing it. He took one of the hats from Ellie, and tossed it across the hall, where another elevator was. 

"We'll regroup with uh-" The guards stopped when they heard the thud of the hat landing. One went out to inspect it, and glanced in the other elevator, before calling to his co-worker. 

"There is convict here!" He pulled out his weapon as the other guard raced to help his co-worker, Henry and Ellie racing into the elevator once it was safe. "Get down on ground."

"That was a close one." Henry said after him and Ellie shared a fist bump, the elevator going up to the surface level. "Hopefully things will be easier from here."

Henry just had to jinx himself.

When the elevator door opened, chaos was all he could describe as he looked around the Wall's courtyard. He could see fellow inmates running, guards shooting at them. Some red spots were in the white stuff on the ground and he could see was one guy in a blue hat, with the letter "C" above the brim of the hat, hiding behind a rock. "No, I don't like this." He heard him say, and Henry felt bad as he began to race for the exit.

"Henry!" Ellie called suddenly, making him turn around. She was a few feet away from him, being held by that Grigori guy. How did he get here so fast?! "Help!" She called, he could see distress in her eyes.

"Back to your cell, inmate." Grigori said, beginning to step away with her. Ellie's head went down, looking at the white stuff on the ground in what seemed to be defeat, as the sight crushed Henry's soul. He saw a bit of him in her that moment, the fact Grigori seemed like an older Jace making it all the easier to make memories come back.

He remembered one time in his teens where he had tried to dash to the exit to the outside world. He was gonna be back, he had promised himself. He just wanted some air, and to get Dad some medicine outside of the building's medical area, since none of that was working. He remembered Jace, the head of security, grabbing him from behind, asking him what 'it' thought 'it' was doing. Henry had tried to explain, but soon he was thrown into an early 'testing session' that felt like it went on all day. He was hardly able to stand, both from being drained emotionally, but from the new bleeding wounds that covered his arms and legs. Those memories made rage fill up inside him. No one should be treated like that. He was not letting the same treatment of 'Freedom Just Outside Your Reach but Being Held Back' be felt by Ellie any second longer.

"Ellie!" Henry shouted, before growling slightly. "NO! She deserves to be out in the open world! She is more human then you'll ever be!" He called, getting the man's attention as Ellie looked a bit shocked from his bold claim. He suddenly and quickly tried to summon something, but his mind was racing on many different things. It was like when he was 3, trying to show tricks to his dad. He was apparently even making a face like he would back then.

"What, you think that will upset me?" Grigori asked over the shouts that surrounded them. Ellie had a mix of a deadpan and annoyed look on her face meanwhile, likely thinking he was an idiot or something. "Oh, very mature." As soon as those words left his mouth, a truck or something slammed into him, sending him flying back, and making him let go of Ellie, who raced over to Henry.

"Thanks... I guess?" She said, giving him a confused look, while Henry smiled proudly. "Now let's get outta here." She said, pointing to the exit, which itself was locked. "Shoot..."

Henry scanned the area nearby, seeing some people hopping into a truck, and some people following someone's lead to a hole in the fence. Henry didn't trust either, as he thought a guard would most likely be in there with them all. He suddenly noticed a bike of sorts and raced to it, hopping on. "Quick Ellie!" He called as he began to wave her over. But as she got close he was pushed to the ground.

"Well, if it isn't Henry..." The old guy from when he first woke up said, smirking as Henry looked at him after a shiver from the cold coming from the white stuff, smaller bits of it falling from the sky and landing in his hair. Were it not for the current situation, he likely would have been in awe from the mystery of it.

"Ellie!" Henry called, sure she would help. But she didn't even look back at him, just began to drive away. "But... I helped you... How could you... After Everything?" He felt like his heart was going to break as tears weld in his eyes.

"There has not been an incident here in 50 years, and the day you show up, this happens." The man said, making Henry looked up at him in fear. He was reminded of his time before escaping the 'home' that was named 'Light Crimson', where Jarod would shout at him and shock and hit him. "You are going to regret every-" an engine sound filled the area. "Huh?"

"What-" Was all Henry said as he suddenly saw red swing into his vison as the guy was knock back. He could see more red, blood, come out of his mouth, and some more white things fell from the air. Only these white things weren't like the cold stuff on the ground, they were teeth. Suddenly a dark skinned hand appeared in Henry's vision, and he smiled with a slight blush as he took it with his pale one. "You came back?"

"Hey, you saved me from life in prison at least twice in the past few minutes. It would be wrong if I didn't come back for you." Ellie stated, helping him onto the back of the strange bike that reminded him a bit of his scooter. "Now, hang on tight!" She said.

"Alright- WOAH!" Henry shouted as he suddenly felt like he was going at what felt like lighting speed, hanging onto Ellie's back for dear life as she drove up, jumping over the tall wall. Oddly enough, after all the near death he faced, including this bike jump, he never felt more alive.

And-

Ellie glanced behind herself after she heard a slapping sound, seeing part of Henry's face now had a faint, red imprint on his cheek. "Henry, are you ok? What just happened there?!" 

"Oh, I was about to think something but lately I've been on a streak of jinxing myself. Best not take any risk while in a foreign country, so I slapped myself."

Ellie shook her head slightly in amusement. "Your such an dork." She chuckled.

"A dork, as you call me." Henry said, trying to sound cool, but had a awkward blush on his face. "That has contacts to people who can get us out of this place."

"Great, I don't want to stick around here longer then I have to." She said as she focused her attention back on the road. "I'll try to find somewhere you can call them from. Who is it, if you don't mind me asking?"

Henry smiled. "Someone I did some work with in the past."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm a Henry x Ellie Shipper. I know the fandom mostly prefers Henry x Charles, and I see why! I even read fanfics with that ship and love them just because of how well written they are! I just always loved this one a bit more, so please don't go hating on me. Also, I asked this last chapter, but since this chapter is now the last chapter before the CtM chapter, I need to know if you guys want that to be the last chapter, or if you guys would like a smallish Epilogue chapter to warp things up. Please let me know which you would prefer!
> 
> Now, watch me get really bad timing and it takes one or two months to finish the CtM chapter. Thanks for reading!


	6. Episode 5 : Completing The Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here! The main show! I would like to say thanks to all those who read this story and enjoyed it! It put a lot of work into this, even if it may not seem so at a first glance! Outside of the epilogue (which I will hopefully have come out soon after this chapter), this is the story's ending! It feels like I've been working on this much longer then I really have been. I just love how this came out! Now, I won't bore you much more. Let's hop into the mission, and see these three get closer then many can hope to get! Enjoy!

Henry found himself staring down at the white stuff on the ground, thinking about a lot. One thing he was thinking about was the name of the white stuff. Snow. Ellie had been surprised when he truly didn't know what it was. She had asked how he didn't know what it was and he just shrugged. He didn't want to get into the real reason why. It was a secret he would bring to his grave if he had to. And as much as he wanted to see his Dad again, he wasn't keen on dying soon.

The main thing on his mind was how far he got since he escaped the torturous prison known by the name of "Light Crimson". Some would argue that would be a bit much to claim it was such, but those who would deny the fact hasn't seen what he has, felt what he felt. He had even thought about taking a knife or something to the side of his teleporter, just to remove the name. He hadn't however, it was the only thing he had to remember his father, and he wanted it to be protected.

It was funny, the more he thought about it. The same day he escaped that cell, he ended up in another. He escaped that one and committed, what could be argued as, the greatest money making crime of all time. Then he teamed up with the government, mainly Charles in his mind, and took down the Toppat airship. And in the past two or three hours, he was illegally arrested and broke out of The Wall with his newfound friend, Ellie.

'Hopefully breaking out of a jail under that condition doesn't land me in jail again,' Henry thought as he kicked some of the snow with his feet, leaning more of his body against the pole. It felt like he had done more in his life in the past year then many people do in their lifetime. If that was the case, he felt it was appropriate. He hardly had a life in the past 21 years before he attempted robbery, so it just felt like he got caught up. Still, there was so much to do...

Ellie... Charles... He cared about them both dearly, even with just meeting the former today. If they found out the truth about him... what would they do? Would they still see him as 'Henry' and kept their friendship. As much as he wanted to believe that, he knew that likely wasn't true. As much as he avoided the hatred in the world, he still saw how people could hate other people over the smallest things they couldn't control. And at the end of the day, he wasn't truly a person...

"You sure this is where he's gonna pick us up?" Ellie's beautiful voice pulled him out of his thoughts slightly. Before he had the chance to respond, the humming helicopter blades filled the air, making him look up with a smile as Ellie glanced at the helicopter. "Ah, there he is. You said you did some work with him in the past, or something? If you trust him, so do I."

"Hey, Henry! Nice to see you again! Who's your friend?" Charles called as he poke out of the cockpit after Henry and Ellie climbed in. 

"I'm Ellie." She answered before Henry had a chance to speak, but Henry didn't mind.

"Whelp. Nice to meet ya." Charles said, walking over with a smile. "Any friend of Henry's is a friend of mine!" He suddenly wipe the smile off his face, rubbing the back of his head, making Henry tilt his head to the side in confusion. "So, uhh... I was able to swing by and pick you guys up, but... Well you remember the captain? Yeah, he... had to sanction this pickup, in return we're gonna need your assistance again."

"Oh." Henry stated, actually getting the chance to speak now. He knew that he had become friends with Charles and Ellie, so he wanted them to be friends for more then 'you're his friend, so now I'm your friend too'. And he figured being quiet would allow them more time to get to know each other on their own. "I wasn't really expecting that, but sure, I can help with any task around the base if that's what he needs."

"Uhh... we need your help... With the Toppats." Charles said awkwardly, leaving Henry surprised. Didn't he already take them out? "Again. I hope that's alright."

"Well... It is the least we can do, he is helping us out." Ellie said, Henry nodding in response. Charles let out a sigh of relief, as if he was worried they wouldn't agree.

"Good." He then started heading back to the cockpit after making sure the door was close. "I'll fill you in on the details when we get into the air. There's some snacks in that bag over there, by the way. Figured ya would be Hungry."

"Thanks Charles!" Henry said as the pilot started the helicopter and Henry raced to the bag. He found a pack of Vanilla snack cakes shaped like the red thing Ellie had hit that Warden guy with, a 'Stop Sign', he believes, and almost instantly started digging in. 

Ellie rolled her eyes playfully at the man, although she was half tempted to believe he was a child stuck in some grown man's body at this point. She pulled out a juice box. "So, what's with these Toppats?" Ellie asked before taking a sip.

"Alright, so what's left of the Toppat Clan has set up, uhh, some sort of base in the jungle." Charles called from the cockpit, making Henry distract himself from his treats to pay attention. "Seems like they're planning on launching, uhh, some sort of space station into orbit. They'll be sitting pretty if they pull this off, so we gotta make sure they don't do that. I talked to the General, and he says he's pulling out our main forces."

"Wait, why?" Henry asked after swallowing another mouthful of the vanilla snack cake, along with the sweet vanilla icing-cream between the two layers. He did wish they had them with Strawberry frosting instead of vanilla. That combo made for his favorite type of cake. Second to Cheesecake, because there was no beating his favorite food. Wait, why was he going on about food in his mind? "Why is he doing that?"

"He said that you and I made a pretty good team last time, so he trusts we can do it again." Charles smiled as he answered, glancing back at him.

"Henry and I make a good team too, don't count me out!" Ellie said, tossing her juice box in the nearby trash can.

"Then we're gonna make a great squad!" He said, smiling as he he returned to facing forward, like you should be when driving. "With the three of us, we should have no problems..." He glanced to ~~the reader~~ the side of his helicopter. "Competing the Mission."

"Why did you say it like that?" Ellie questioned, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh, I like to pretend I'm in a book or show sometimes. And be the character that has some self awareness to that fact." Charles said, making Henry chuckle as Ellie rolled her eyes slightly.

It took about 6-8 hours to get to the jungle to Henry's knowledge. Well, that was a bit of a lie, it took longer. It wouldn't have taken that long if Charles hadn't parked the helicopter and they all slept there for the night, knowing it would be a bad idea for Charles to drive all night and for Henry and Ellie to be tired when they needed to break in. The next thing Henry knew, they were opening the doors to the helicopter.

"Alright, we're there." Charles announced, as Henry looked through the trees, and would have been distracted by the forest view alone if it wasn't for the rocket that had to be the tallest thing he ever saw. He felt slightly intimated, he wasn't gonna lie. "I don't think I can get any closer without... being shot down."

"No worries! We can get there from here." Ellie said, adjusting her ear piece slightly, as she glanced at the few landing spots she could see. "Where we dropping, boys?"

Henry scanned the area he could view, seeing four possible areas they could try to land. One stood out from the others, that being near some sort of thing that looked like it had a bunch of rockets inside. "We need to take that down, so that Charles can get closer and help us." He said, summoning two jetpacks in his hands, tossing one to Ellie as he placed the other on his back. "Once we get there, we can find some way to turn it off."

"Nice plan Henry, you two be careful, I'll be ready to head over." Charles said, as Ellie adjusted the jetpack on her slightly. On a nod of three, the two raced over to the machine, Henry being blinded slightly as the world around him became a blur, not helped by the slight heat as the wind brushed against his face roughly. The next thing he knew, there was dust as he coughed, standing on his feet.

"That was... weirdly... smooth." He heard Ellie say as he glanced at her, seeing as she tossed the, now damaged, jetpack off her back. After taking a glance behind him, he seen that the machine seemed to have been sliced clean in half. Were they really going that fast?! There was only minor scratches on both of them. "So, what's the plan?"

Before they had the chance to respond, something came over the speaker, and Henry could almost feel it echoing around him.

"The rocket will be launching very soon." A strange voice said over the loudspeaker, making Henry panic. "Please get onboard immediately. I will not hesitate to leave you behind!"

"Uh oh. Sounds like they're about to take off." Charles stated through the earpiece, likely overhearing the Toppat member from one of theirs. "You guys should get over there right away. I'll be down to help as soon as I can." 

"How are we supposed to get over there?" Ellie asked. "Even if we tried racing up the pathway, they're will likely be Toppats that would stop us."

"Hang on, let me try something." Henry said, taking a breath and closing his eyes, reaching out his hands. "I need something to get us inside the rocket, like a fast mini plane or something." Henry thought, before he felt something wooden appear in his hands. He slowly open his eyes to be met with... "A barrel?! How is a barrel meant to help!? My powers are useless!" He was useless...

"Woah, woah!" Ellie called, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Like I was trying to say at the wall earlier, maybe there's a reason you can't control it the way you want. Maybe it's meant to be random. Think about it, have your powers ever given you something that DIDN'T get the job done? And I don't mean job done by 'summoning the exact item', but getting it's intended purpose you made it for done?"

"I... I never thought about it that way.." Henry spoke in realization, looking at the barrel his powers had gifted him in a new light. Thinking about it, she wasn't wrong. His powers always gave him something to get the job done, even if it was far from what he wanted. And now that he took a second glance, he noticed the arrow and an idea clicked in his head. "Wait a sec..." He lined it against the edge of the wall below, and soon more barrels and even some banana's appeared in the air. "Ah! It's like Donkey Kong!" Henry shouted before hopping in the barrel.

"See? Your powers did come through!" Ellie said, hopping in after him, the barrel launching the two a second later. Henry felt himself launching as he spun around in the air, feeling the banana's from earlier hitting him and disappearing. "Ya did summon enough so we can get in the rocket safely.. right?" Ellie suddenly called, and Henry's eyes widen as the realization set in.

"Alright I'm here! Combo time!" Charles's voice suddenly rang as the helicopter flew overhead, just inches away from hitting them. However, Henry let out a huff as he landed inside of something metal, feeling some weight fall onto of him. He open his eyes slightly, and felt heat rushed to his cheeks.

Ellie was just an inch or two away from having her face land right on his own, her body against his. She open her eyes slightly, and he saw the faintest bit of red appear on her cheeks as well. "Well... this is awkward." She said.

"Y-yeah, so awkward, hehe..." Henry said, and would have rubbed the back of his head if he had the room.

"Funny story. heh. This canon was actually built to fire humans, it's kinda weird." Charles voice came over the earpiece. "Hold on to your butts!" He called, and suddenly Henry found himself being shot to the nearby window, smashing through and both of them rolled against the ground. They would have had scars for sure if it wasn't for their long sleeves taking the damage. "Direct hit! Now quick guys, you got to stop that rocket from taking off."

"Umm..." Ellie said as she stood up. One quick glance around the room was all it took for Henry to realize they were in tourble. They were in a large room with long blue tables, and almost every set had a Toppat clan member in it, and nearly all noticed the two. "Got a little bit of a situation..."

"That's a bit of a understatement for ya." A guy in a hat that looked like, and smelled like cheese said as he grabbed a nearby gun, racing over with a few other Toppats and pointing it at them.

Henry felt his brain race for an idea, before getting an idea. A dumb idea, but an idea. "Ellie, I'm gonna do something that looks really dumb. But I have a gut feeling it's what I need to do, and I need you to go along with it." Henry said, glancing at her as he began to summon something.

"You better know what your doing, Henry." Ellie said, getting into a fighting pose. "I can't just force throw everyone here out the window."

Henry nodded as he quickly summoned a radio of sorts and pressed play, music coming from the speakers. He saw some Toppat members looking unusually confused. As soon as the beat dropped, he smiled and did what he liked to call the 'Distraction Dance', something he came up with in his teens to try and distract himself from the pain he felt in his day to day life. He glanced at the members, hoping they be too stupid that they could just quickly run passed the Toppat clan members.

What he saw instead was the Toppats joining in, whether it was copying his own dance or doing dances of their own. He even looked to the side and saw Ellie smiling as she did his dance with him in perfect unison, like she knew the steps before she even seen the dance. Even Charles was bopping his head to the music he heard over their earpieces, although Henry wouldn't know this fact until later. Quickly, Henry and Ellie snuck past the dancing crowd, and into the hallways.

"Situation sorted..." Ellie said, looking back at Henry with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Hehe, can't believe that worked. It was just the first thing that came to my mind... and I didn't even think about what I wanted when I summoned that radio, it just gave me it to help." He looked at Ellie and smiled. "I guess your advise is real- WOAH!" Henry shouted, as he grabbed onto the wall, the floor below them starting to shake, along with the walls.

"Uh guys, The rocket's launching-" Charles voice said, as Ellie helped pulled Henry to a nearby opening in the wall, leading to a ladder. "We gotta do something before they get into orbit!"

"We need to come up with a plan, quick!" Ellie said, as Henry quickly started putting the ideas together in his head. Ok, there had to be an elevator nearby that took them in the cockpit. And there had to be someone in there to start the rocket on its course. Suddenly, he stood up with a smile on his face. "Seems like Henry's got a plan."

"So..." He said, pressing the button on his earpiece. "Me and Ellie will head up into the cockpit."

"Uh huh?" Charles responded.

"Once there, Ellie will take down the driver."

"Yeah?"

"Meanwhile I will set the autopilot to somewhere else, somewhere on earth." He smirked as he thought of where.

"Yeah."

"Then me and Ellie will need you to be ready to catch us in your helicopter as we fall down."

"Oh yeah." 

"Think it will work?" Henry asked, doubting himself for a second.

"Ah! Yeah!" Charles said as Ellie gave him a thumbs up. "That's a great Idea! Alright, you guys do your thing, I'll be ready!"

Henry and Ellie had to race around for a solid minute or two to find the elevator, but once they did they both got ready to fight. Henry was a bit surprised to see a far more younger adult than he's seen so far, just a couple years older then him by the looks of it, in the chair. A young adult who quickly looked over, surprised. "What, Who's that?!"

"It's 'who's there', not 'who's that!' " Henry called quickly as he raced up to the steering systems, tossing Ellie a piece of rope he summoned (he wanted handcuffs, but he didn't think to complain anymore, it would get the job done) as she tackled the blonde man to the ground. He was just barely able to figure out how to get the computer system to work, and soon the screen read "NEW COURSE SET", and Henry felt the rocket tilt slightly as it changed course.

"Did you set the autopilot?" Ellie asked as they two raced to the open window. Henry looked back at the man, who would be stabbing him with daggers based on the glare his blue eyes gave. Henry only waved slightly with one hand, giving Ellie a thumbs up with the other. "Alright, then. Let's bail." She said, jumping out of the window with Henry following close behind. He grabbed her hand as Charles's helicopter came into view, pulling them both in once he got a hold of it's side.

"Ahh! Whatta move! Can't believe we did it!" Charles called as Henry closed the door, Ellie going after a juice box as soon as she caught her breath. Charles then leaned over his chair, looking back at Henry. "Where'd you end up sending the rocket anyway?" 

Meanwhile, Dmitri groaned in his office, ice bag against his mouth. At first he had been so tempted to chase after Henry and that girl after all the chaos they caused him, but when they went to where they tracked the bike, there was no sign of either there. He should had thrown him in maximum security as soon as he got there! Now, Grigori was stuck with a broken arm, and Dmitri was cursed with a lisp thanks to the lack of teeth because of the Stop sign the girl hit him with.

"50 years.... no incident in 50 years, and in the minuets I let that Существо in here everything went to-!" He was cut off but a sound that could be compared too something crashing outside, him growling as he stood up, not ready to deal with anymore chaos, only for his eyes to widen at the sight before him upon looking out his window.

Inside the area of his maximum security and solitary containment cells, was a large rocket of sorts, wedged into the walls as though this was its landing place. It took a second to process what it was, the Toppat rocket he heard about! How did it get here, and-

It clicked. Henry and the girl were likely picked up by the government, who sent him to take down the Toppats once more. Whether he had just brought it here just because, or because he felt bad (though Dmitri doubted that was the case), Henry had given him a new set of prisoners.

The thought of Henry still made his blood boil, and if he could he would likely freeze Stickmin alive in an ice cube, one made with drops of that light blue substance that seem to keep that one caveman prisoner alive in ice for years until the wall found them. A light blue substance he still had yet to understand. But he wasn't going to bite off more than he could chew.

"I'll get you one day, Stickmin" he mumbled, before heading to the radio system to order his all his able guards to start leading the Toppats into there cells. And start figuring out how on earth to get the rocket out of the there before anyone died...

Henry didn't answer Charles' question, but he couldn't help but give a big grin as he thought of the place. Hey, he did kinda help a bunch of their inmates escape, might as well give them some new ones that deserve the time.

"That was a lotta fun!" Ellie said, wrapping a arm around Henry's shoulder as she tossed her empty juice box in the trash. Henry couldn't help but fell a small bit of heat enter his cheeks as Ellie glanced at Charles. "You know... feel free to call us if you have anymore jobs we can do together." She then glanced at her fellow past-criminal. "Right Henry?"

"Yea! And I think I know how to give us a head start on that!" Henry asked, before racing up to the cockpit. "Charles, can you take us to Galeforce? There's something I been thinking about for awhile, and I see this whole mission as a sign it's what I'm meant to do. But I need to talk to him first."

"Oh, sure! I was gonna need to head there anyway, to report the mission complete and all." Charles said. "Hey, when we get on the ground, we should totally take a picture of ourselves in cool team poses!" 

"Like Movie team poses or game team poses or book team poses?" Henry asked. "Actually, would that last one even work. Because it's just words yet no one can likely think exactly what the author was thinking of when they wrote about that pose-"

"You two are such dorks." Ellie stated as she jumped behind them, ruffling their hair slightly, Henry shouting and chuckling in response.

"Ellie, I may be a pro flyer but I still need to focus on what's in front of me!" Charles said while chuckling, pushing her back slightly.

As Henry looked at the two, he truly felt like his life had reached everything he wanted. It was like it was already complete. But that was the thing about life. Almost every ending was also a new ending. Even if his story was to end here, if he had one to begin with, he would be perfectly happy he got to live to what he felt was a completed life. But his story wasn't ending here, in reality, it was just beginning.

"And to think, this all started with me trying to rob a bank" Henry thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny how instead of things going downhill for Henry after the bank, it all went uphill instead, huh? He really deserves this life, which you'll see why if you haven't put the pieces of the puzzle together about where Henry came from. And yes, I decided to do a small part with Dmitri at the wall reacting to the rocket. Not that I like him, I hate him a lot, I just feel like adding it. Probably the weakest part of this chapter in my opinion, but I still like it. Also, it has a small hint to the epilogue. Again, thanks for reading!


	7. Rank: Triple Threat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo … Remember when I said this epilogue would be a shortist epilogue? Yeah, even tho it's been like only 4 days since I publish last chapter, I not only got it done, but made it what I think is the longest chapter in the story. I just loved the story so much that I spent much more time making this chapter as perfect as it could be, and ending up getting it done quicker then I thought I would. Kinda hard to believe this is the last chapter of my story. I put so much work into it. Anyway, time to see what makes this an AU, and not canon. Enjoy!

Henry considered himself the luckiest man in the world. Which is something he never would have thought nearly a year ago. Nearly a year... He chuckled at the thought. Charles was now 23, he would soon turn 22, and Ellie would be 21 a short bit after. It was if they were meant to be friends, which Henry liked to think was true. Everything seemed to have fallen into place for them to meet, after all.

On the day they took out the Toppats once and for all, they arrived at the camp. He was a bit surprise to learn Galeforce, who was now a father figure in Henry's eyes, was now a general, but he shouldn't have looking back on it. He then talked about joining the government. He knew he had no qualifications to join, he wasn't even in High School, well, any school. He explains this, but hoped that he could get even a minor job within the government.

To his surprise, he not only got in, but was also given the title as a government agent, to be able to work alongside Charles in missions. "You took out the Toppat clan when we couldn't." He had said to him back then, "I know you'll do great things here with us." It took a slight bit more convincing to get Ellie to work alongside them, but the General agreed that he could get her on a mission to get her pardoned, and then have her join.

Not too long after, Ellie and Henry found themselves moving into Charles' house. He claimed that since they were a team, and that the team should stick together, it would be best. That and the fact Ellie didn't exactly have a home to go back to. It took a bit to get settled into the place, but with him always being with Charles and Ellie made every time he turned a corner and walked into a wall or bookcase worth it.

Henry had also took the money he still had from the diamond and donated all of it to different charities. He didn't need it anymore anyway, now that he had Charles and Ellie. He didn't see money or items as the main force behind his life, so he didn't want any luxury items. Besides, he still had his Scooter (which he was lucky to find only had a few scrapes on it) and Charles' helicopter, he considered those luxury enough.

Most of their days were spent either helping around the government base, or going on so many missions that Henry wasn't sure he could count them all. Hunting down criminals, helping in some law stuff Henry didn't fully understand, and other cool stuff!

It was funny, they were so close that they were hardly seen without each other. People around the base had even started calling them the "Triple Threat", and they took the name with stride! Sure, not all they're missions went perfectly, and they would come back with scars or blood every now and again, but that was just a part of life! And Henry had learned, thanks to Ellie, that things didn't need to be perfect 24/7.

For so long, he thought it was him. He always blamed his powers for how they acted and never gave him what he wanted, but deep down he always thought it was him. Now, he felt more in control of his powers then ever! Sure, he still got things from video games and other wacky stuff, but he always found a way to make it work! He just needed to think of what he needed it for, and not what he wanted, and sometimes he got what would have been the latter!

To put it simply; Life was as normal as he could felt it to be. And that was perfect in his eyes.

"Henry, get down here, you're gonna miss the movie!" Ellie called from downstairs, making Henry stop tearing through his closet, opening the door to his room and heading to the stair railing.

"Have either of you seen my jacket?" He called down, not really caring about the possibility of him missing the movie, he knew they wouldn't start without him. He did wish they could stop teasing him with the smell of popcorn in the air. "I just took a shower and I can't find it!"

"Why do you need your jacket anyway? It's not like the heater's broken!" Ellie called back, and Henry could hear the eye roll in her statement. 

"I'm wearing one of the shirts then the thin slaps instead of normal sleeves, and I don't want to dirty a different shirt!" Henry called back, glancing down at the teal shirt. Sometimes on their days off from work, they would head to the gym if they had nothing else to do, and Ellie had bought them these kinds of shirts to go there. He didn't like how they expose his secrets, so he always wore them under his jacket.

Before Ellie had another chance to throw some sort of comment at him, or go to drag him down and discover the truth, Charles' voice called up. "Oh, it just got out of the laundry while you were in the shower, so I placed it on the counter in there." 

"Thanks Charles!" Henry called down. "Be there in a few minutes!"

"You better! I'm not waiting all night!" He heard Ellie's voice call as he raced to the bathroom, faintly hearing the heavenly sound of Charles' chuckle before entering the door. He quickly reached for the jacket and went to put it on, only to pause. He slowly faced the mirror, turning his body so he could see his exposed left shoulder.

Mainly at the nearly pure black ink that was written in his shoulder since his birth. No, birth wasn't the right word. Since his creation. 

"EXP 781"

What was arguably his real name. 

Experiment 781.

The memories hit him like a wall of bricks.  
...

Henry screamed in pain as the shock went through his body, him falling to the floor slightly. He glanced through his hair slightly at all the scientist in the room, looking at him, writing on those boards, judging him and his imperfections. 

They wanted him to summon different items like normal during testing. Tape, shampoo, piano, stone, jar, cork, Teddy bear, and a card. Now, Henry didn't even know what a couple of those items were, it was like they just expected him to be able to summon them without having the slightest clue of anything about them. Not that knowing would help anyway. Some sort of light thing, green plastic of sorts, a small rounded shining object, a picture, a wired looking brush, screen, carrier that would fit a child, and long fabric thing later appeared in there place. Each failure resulting in punishment. Blood dripping from being cut some places, faint traces of light blue (which one scientist had tried to collect drops of) with the normal red. Bruises and scars on other parts of his body. And a light red spot from where he was just shocked by some rod held by Jace. Henry hated it. And he hated the voice that came to him.

"Why must you do this, Experiment 781?" Jarold, head of Light Crimson labs walked up to him, brown eyes showing no emotion for the man in front of him. No kind emotions at least, like sorrow or regret. There were darker emotions held in them, anger, disappointment, coldness were a select few however.

"My...My name is Henry" Henry had replied, trying to sound strong, but he knew everyone in that room seen that it was just an act. He was scared, afraid, and too broken to try anything. "I-I can't control the Summontinum. A-All I can do is call for it to summon-"

He had half expected the slap in response to him, he would be lying if he said he didn't. "Then explain why the subjects before you were able to summon exactly what they wanted with no issue!"

The subjects before him. When they had first found the Light Blue Chemical substance in some icy area, they had some willing human subjects consume it, and it allowed them to summon one or two items, and got exactly what they wanted. When injecting it into animals, they found the animals would die from it, but if the right amount was injected into the heart, it would become like blood, going through there veins, and giving them the ability until they died.

Then he came into the picture. Hardly anyone knew how exactly the pink-haired man was made. The only known fact was that a blood sample was taken from someone with O+ blood and a strong immune system to minimize the chance of sickness. As soon as he came into the world, most of the remaining Summontinum was injected into his heart, and from what he heard objects almost instantly started appearing around him. Originally he was meant to be left to the lab's nurses, mainly Rachel, until he was old enough for testing.

But the man whose blood was used to make him and was unaware of the exact reason it was needed, heard about him and demanded with the boss to be allowed to have him. Konnor (Connor with a K, Henry wasn't sure what his grandparents were thinking) Stickmin was a determined man, so much so that Jarold knew he couldn't fire or kill him, he knew it would come back and bite him in some way or another. After what Henry could only assume was a nasty argument, Jarold had agreed to let Konnor raise him, but under the condition he did not interfere with future tests, which Konnor reluctantly agreed.

For the majority of his childhood, everything didn't seem too bad. He was taught some things by the nurses in his younger years, just to give him some basic knowledge. He would always hang out with his Dad when he could, and they were the happiest pair. Of course, there were some downers, like the fact Henry wasn't allowed to have, whatever a "birthday party" was, and the fact there was no other kids like him to play with.

Then 12 years came, and things went downhill. Dad had gotten something called cancer, and these monstrous tests started on Henry. Konnor did his best to protect Henry, but they would keep taking him away when Konnor had his back turned, until he was too weak to try and stop them. Henry was exposed to the more cruel side of the lab between being dragged into and out of testing, parts his father always did his best to hide from him. Humans being hurt or killed during testing of certain items. Not to mention all the animal deaths. He wouldn't be surprise to learn there was more, but he didn't want to-

Another slap brought him back into reality, as he glanced at the dirty blonde man in front of him. "The more perfect your skills are, the more we get from your blood without hurting you! Don't you see, you hold the key to saving everything wrong in the world! Hunger, lack of proper weapons for our government! Yet your selfish joker act is ruining everything!"

"Why should I care for the world if I'll never be a part of it?" Henry knew another slap or shock or cut was coming, and braced himself.

"Sir! I think this is enough testing for now!" The only friendly voice in the room called, the only scientist who seemed to see Henry was more then, as Jarold called him once in an argument with his father, 'hardly more then a machine.' He was Dad's friend in the Chemical Labs part of the... well lab, so he's always been close to Henry.

And he was always the one whose words seemed to calm Jarold, even if they had no reason to logically do so. "Fine..." The boss glared at Henry with a look that said 'worthless', before leaving the room, the others inside slowly leaving. Experiment 781 got up on 'it's' feet, before seeing a blue jacket appear in 'it's' vison.

"Hey, you got... close today." Kneernels said with a slight smile, as Henry took the jacket from him. It made him feel comfortable, like he was hidden, safe. Also helped with the wounds. They always healed, but he didn't like to see them while healing. "If you want you can stop by my room later, and we can have Cheesecake, your favorite."

"Maybe... right now I want to go see Dad..." Henry walked out of the room, but stop before he went down the hall. "And don't bother lying to me..." 

"Henry-"

He didn't bother sticking around to hear anything more, heading straight to his father's room. Ok, that was a bit of a lie, he stopped by the useless medbay area to grab a bandage for his cuts, only mumbling a "Hi" to Rachel on the way out. He didn't really hate her, not like the scientist, but she still pretended like nothing was wrong. Granted, she seemed to hardly show emotion to anyone, all work no anything else, but still...

Henry walked into the medbay like area that had become his father's room, and nothing but soul crushing guilt and sadness filled him in a second. His father was seemingly asleep in his bed, but Henry knew he was just resting his eyes. Even after becoming bedridden, his immune system finally failing, he seemed to possess some need to try and protect Henry. Henry could hardly recognize his father, the faint traces of pink hair (Konnor always died it brown when he had hair, he never liked the color of the dull pink he was born with), the dull look in the green eyes when they were open, the wrinkles and overall sick look of his body. He knew it was him, nothing could replace that fact.

Henry walked up to the chair beside his father's bed, sitting down. He made it a point to spend almost every moment he wasn't being tested on or taking care of his own basics needs to stay by his father's side. It was the only thing he could think of to repay him for all his time he spent with Henry over the years. He held the man's hand, and almost instantly the horrifying fact set in for Henry. He could feel this would be one of, if not the very last time he spoke with his Dad. He would be the last person of the Stickmin family tree alive, and no one would know he existed.

He didn't want to accept that fact, far from it. He wanted to throw it into a machine that would tear it to bits. But he couldn't. "Dad... I... I.." He couldn't think of any words as tears filled his eyes.

"I'm sorry... Henry..." His father weak voice spoke, being hardly above a whisper, as his green eyes slowly open and glance at the brighter shade of his son's. "I wished I could have taken you from this place long ago..." Konnor sighed, so weak it felt like he should not be able to speak anymore. Those words were what he always began with when Henry came to him anymore, it broke the young adult every time. "My only hope was that one day, you would leave this place for good..."

"Dad... I...I'm sorry I couldn't help you..." Henry sobbed as he held his father's hand close to him, like it was his lifeline. It was his fault, it had to be. Everything around here seemed to be his fault. "I-If only I could get ahold of my powers... I can.. I could get something to heal you, I-I could help! I-"

"There's no help for me anymore, Henry..." His father said, shaking his head to the side ever-so-slightly. "The treatments haven't worked and I don't want you to waste your powers on me." he was acting like there was a limit to his powers, which honestly, Henry kinda wish would happen so he didn't have a reason to be tested on anymore. "Use them for something more..."

"But..." Henry wiped some tears away, only for more to replace them. "W-What more is there to my so called 'life' then trying to please Jarold and FAILING every time when I'm stuck in this uncaring place?!" He asked, nearly choking on his on tears for a second.

He didn't expect a small smile to be the response to that.

"Perhaps..." he coughed slightly, before looking back at him. "You'll be able to live your life the way YOU want too..." That caught Henry off guard, what could he be talking about? His father turn his head to the stand beside his bed, showing a manilla folder on it. Henry was surprise to find the name 'Henry' instead of the name he was labeled from birth. He felt his father's hand let go of his. "Look inside..."

Henry was hesitant, worried the beeping device connected to his father would stop as soon as he felt his hand let go, but beeping it keep doing. He grabbed the folder and opened it. There was only one thing inside, something much too small to have needed a folder. He pulled it out, and even with his lack of knowledge of the world, instantly knew what it was. An ID card, with his picture and the name 'Henry Stickmin' on it. "Dad..." he glanced at his father slightly.

"You belong in the open world Henry, not stuck in this building where your nothing more then a tool for you entire life..." He said, before glancing at the drawer in the stand the folder had laid on. "I had Kneernels grab something for me a few days ago, and hid it in there. Hasn't been used yet. It belongs to you now, should help you leave this place for good."

Henry slowly open the drawer, and peaked inside. For once, seeing the more cruel side of the lab was a pro, because he knew what the device inside was. The Teleporter, something that was being made to give soldiers the upper hand in battle by being able to teleport to any spot with ease. But it only seemed to work the first time, and was basically suicide any other time. Henry had always seen them in a bad light, but now, it was his ticket to freedom. He felt his eyes fill up with more tears, as he hugged his father, feeling an arm weakly wrap around him. "T-thank you Dad, I love you."

"Henry... look at me..." Konnor requested, and Henry suddenly noticed his father crying for the first time since he enter the room, a frown replacing a smile on his face mere moments ago. "I want you to promise me something before I- You, You go.." 

Henry had caught the 'I', which quickly wiped out some of the hope that was just interduce to his heart. This really was goodbye... he wiped his tears, but more keep replacing them, as he glanced back at his father. "A-Anything you want, Dad, anything." It was the least he could do after all he did for him...

"When you leave this place, never return...please." His father pleaded, tears welling up in his eyes. "Not even for me..."

Henry sobbed as the thought went through his mind. For so long he wanted to leave this place and never look back, but he never thought about leaving his father. "I..." He looked at him, before making his father's last wish true. "I-I won't Dad, I promise." He said, although his heart ached at the idea of leaving his father behind forever.

"Good... now take what you need and go. Go before Jarold or Jace finds out." Konnor urged, squeezing Henry's arm as strong as he could to emphasize his insistence. There was no time to wait anymore. It was now or never.

Henry felt his heart ache and crack with each tear that rolled down his face. He brought his father's hand close and kissed it slightly, what he saw as the last bit of love he could give him in return for all his over the years. "I-I love you... t-thank you for everything you did for me, dad..." 

He summoned a dull, creamy/grayish color bag, only mildly annoyed it wasn't the box he asked himself for, before throwing some of this father's clothing inside, knowing it would be too much of a risk to go grab his own. He swung the bag over his shoulder, and felt time slow as he pressed the two green buttons on the teleporter, looking at his father for the very last time, until they were called to meet again. "Good..." There was nothing good about this word he was saying. "Good...Goodbye.." He closed his eyes as the red button was pressed, and like that, he was gone.

The next time someone would pass by that room, a flatline would be all that was heard.

Henry broke down on the non-floor ground as soon as he landed about a mile or two from the lab, too many feelings filling him, thoughts bugging him. He just left his father...like that. Should he have waited? Should he had tried to hide everything just for a few more moments with his father?... It was too late to ask those questions as he looked around, doing his best to wipe his tears away. 

He thought the outside would be a bit more... colorful. There was yellow stuff on the ground... brown giant lumps in the distance... kinda hot... Wait, one of the nurses told him about places like this when he was younger. Come on think... This was a... desert right? And... that blue sky. So bright and clear... He never thought he'd live to see it, outside of the glimpses he got through the exit that taunted him all his life.

Oh... this part of the ground was a different shade then the other parts around it. A path, maybe? It was all he really had to go off of, as he began to follow it away. Away from Light Crimson Lab. Away from his father, the only joy he had in his life. And too a new life...

A life that require money. He paused, facepalming himself as tears went down his face more. Why didn't he garb some from his father's dresser while he could!? He couldn't really do anything without that 'stupid green stuff the world likes to run off of', as dad once put it. And if he didn't find a some soon, he wouldn't be able to hide from the lab!

Then he remembered. He once overheard a conversation from two scientists talking about the outside world. Normally, he tried to avoid listening to those types of conversations, but he heard them mentioned the bank down the road from he lab, one that had lots of money in bags. 

"Oh! Surely whoever runs that building won't mind if a take a bag or two for myself..." Henry thought, with a sad nod as he keep heading down the path. Yes he knew stealing was wrong, but just this once to help him get him settle into this life. 

What could possibly go wrong?  
...

Henry spent a good minute or two staring in the mirror as these memories flooded his brain. It was so hard trying to be normal, when you know that you never will be. Everyone else was born from a mother, he was created from a blood sample. Everyone else had a choice to have ink on them, he had his label since he could remember. Everyone else was truly human, even the people who were more awful then him, he will never be truly human.

That was the biggest guilt still weighing down on his soul. Both lying to his friends- no, his family. And allowing this lab to go on. What was sickening was that he KNEW it was getting funded by the government, a government that didn't truly know what was going on behind closed doors. All they 'knew' was that they worked on weapons and medicine mostly. And he couldn't even tell them because he'd just be sent back! He found himself slapping the mirror in a small fit of self-anger.

Ok... granted, he didn't know for certain that he'd be sent back. Charles, Ellie, General Galeforce, Dave, Rupert, everyone at the base seemed to care for him, or at least tolerated him. He always hoped one day he could tell them all, and get this guilt off his back and get that evil place shut down. But the nightmares he had, where all kindness were torn away as he was dragged back to that place, breaking his promise and losing everything he had, was too great.

...But... he could live with these secrets. It felt a bit wrong, yes, but he could. He looked back at his reflection, a smile forming on his face as he placed his jacket on.

"Jarold... he isn't in control of your life anymore." Henry spoke to his reflection. "Neither is Jace, or anyone in that lab. Your still gonna have Nightmares, your still gonna feel guilt. Your still gonna be scared. But... that's ok. You got your best friend Charles, your crush- I mean other best friend Ellie! You got General Galeforce, who is basically the closest thing to Dad since he died.." he glanced to the side slightly, wiping some tears away. "And you still make it a point to visit Dad a least once a month. While some things could be slightly better, you should be grateful for what you got now." He glance back at himself, and nodded, before leaving the room.

"There you are! I was about to come drag you down here, ya lovable dork." Ellie said, rolling her eyes slightly as Henry entered the room, shrugging slightly as he plopped down beside her and Charles in the middle of there couch, Charles starting the movie.

"So... what are we watching again? I kinda forgot the name while in the shower." Henry said, making Ellie facepalm slightly, a slight chuckle escaping her lips. 

"Pokémon Detective Pikachu!" Charles said excitedly, as the opening credits played. 

Oh, that was the newest one with Mewtwo, the lab experiment... and the main character would lose his father or something like that? Henry shook his head ever so slightly, he was only slightly bugged by it, and honestly the former situation made Mewtwo his favorite legendary. And besides, he could be able to relate with the main character!

Henry smiled at him. "Oh, you've really been looking forward for this movie!"

"How could I not!? I always wondered what it would be like if Pokémon existed in real life, and this is-"

"Shhh, the movie is starting." Ellie said, pointing out the black fading into a shot of some outdoor plane late at night, drawing Henry's and Charles' attention back into the screen.

"I think mission: Get Ellie into Pokémon is complete." Charles whispered quickly to Henry, a slight smug look on his face.

Henry turned to him and nodded, as he glanced back at the screen, being drawn in in awe and pity as he saw the fellow lab experiment appear on screen. He was thankful Charles did make him go through the games first, it made him feel more connected to them. He honestly wished Mewtwo was real, just so he could have someone to truly relate to. He suddenly felt a faint warmth around his hand, and blushed upon seeing Ellie had absentmindedly reached and held his hand. At least, he assumed absentmindedly.

He felt a bit more blush appear on his cheek as he smiled, taking in the perfect moment this was. He knew if his life was a game, and had many different endings, this would be the perfect ending for him. He even knew exactly what the ending would be called, assuming the ending's would be titled "Ranks".

Rank: Happiness At Last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, Henry is a lab experiment. Honestly at first this was just an idea I was playing around with but I fell in love with it so much I basically see it as canon now. I bet reading back on some chapters some things about Henry make sense now, like not knowing what some things are called and his overall childish personality to the world around him. I could probably go on a happy rant about the every little thing in this AU I thought of but I'll just leave some notes.
> 
> -Summontinum does have the ability to keep people alive in frozen states. This was originally just a random concept I came up with for my "Medieval to Modern" AU, but decided to throw it in canonly to my main Au as an explanation for why there's a caveman poisoner at the wall. Normally someone has to have Summontinum in their hearts for this to work, but I decided the Ice made this guy an exception to that rule. Idk I'm trying to be smart.
> 
> -If your wondering why the first human test subjects were able to summon exactly what they wanted but Henry can't, it's because of how the human subjects got it. If consumed like a drink, the Summontinum will active in a state where it believes the person is in an emergency, so throws out it's naturally random factor and gives the person exactly what they want. Because Henry had it injected into his heart, it acts the way it's meant too, being random and the person learning how to use the random to their best ability. The lab never learnt this fact, so in reality, they were punishing Henry for following the incorrect steps they told him to follow. Jarold may be my character but he can die in a whole.
> 
> And I think that's it! My first fanfic I actually completed! Even if you just read through the whole thing and didn't like it, or you read through only a small bit and liked it, thank you for reading! I do got a few other ideas for fanfics in mind, but I'm not sure when I'll get to writing again. Thanks again to fob_Benzedrine23 for editing this story since my grammar and spelling sucks, and for helping me write parts of the epilogue! 
> 
> If you do have any questions, feel free to ask below! And once again, thank you all for reading!


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